-NRLF 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


OF 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
Accessions  No  .  ff*.£ZL      •      Clazs  No. 


» 


THfiGfi 


4     - 


, 

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THE 


SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 


PUBLISHED   UNDER   THE   SANCTION   OF  THE    BOARD   OF   EDUCA- 
TION OF  THE  STATE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


VOL.  VII. 


SACRED  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  SEASONS; 

BY  THE  REV.  HENRY  DUNCAN,  D.D., 

ADAPTED  TO  AMERICAN  READERS, 
BY  REV.    F.    W.    P.    GREENWOOD,  D.D. 

IN    FOUR    VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I.— WINTER. 


BOSTON : 
MARSH,   CAPEN,   LYON,   AND   WEBB. 

1839. 


THIS  VOLUME  IS  SANCTIONED,  BY  THE  BOARD  OF  EDU- 
CATION OF  THE  STATE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  AS  ONE  OF  THE 
SERIES,  ENTITLED,  '  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  PUBLISHEE 
BY  MARSH,  CAPEN,  LYON,  AND  WEBB. 

EDWARD  EVERETT, 
GEORGE  HULL, 
EMERSON  DAVIS, 
EDMUND  DWIGHT, 
GEORGE  PUTNAM, 
ROBERT  RANTOUL,  JR., 
THOMAS  ROBBINS, 
JARED  SPARKS, 
CHARLES  HUDSON, 
GEORGE  N.  BRIGGS. 


SACRED 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  SEASONS; 

ILLUSTRATING  THE  PERFECTIONS  OF  GOD 

IN  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  THE  YEAR. 

BY  THE  REV.  HENRY  DUNCAN,  D.D., 

RCTHWELL,  SCOTLAND. 
WITH    IMPORTANT   ADDITIONS   AND   SOME   MODIFICATIONS   TO   ADAPT   IT   TO 

AMERICAN   READERS, 

BY  F.  W.  P.  GREENWOOD. 


IN  FOUR  VOLUMES. 


VOL.  I.— WINTER. 


BOSTON  : 
MARSH,    CAPEN,   LYON,    AND    WEBB. 

1839. 


I 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839,  by 

MARSH,  CAPEN,  LYON,  AND  WEBB, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


EDUCATION  PRESS. 


I  . 


WINTER. 


"HE   OIVETH   SNOW   LIKE    WOOL:     HE    SCATTERETH    THE   HOAR-FROST    LIKE 
ASHES.      HE  CASTETH  FORTH  HIS  ICE  LIKE  MORSELS  :     WHO  CAN  STAND  BEFORE 

HIS  COLD  ?" — Psalms. 


"  THERE  is  A  PHILOSOPHY  WHICH  NOBLY  EXERCISES  OUR  REASONABLE  FAC- 
ULTIES, AND  IS  HIGHLY  SERVICEABLE  TO  RELIGION  :— SUCH  A  STUDY  OF  THE 
WORKS  OF  GOD,  AS  LEADS  US  TO  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD,  AND  CONFIRMS  OUR 
FAITH  IN  HIM.  BUT  THERE  IS  A  PHILOSOPHY  WHICH  IS  VAIN  AND  DECEITFUL, 
WHICH  SETS  UP  THE  WISDOM  OF  MAN  AGAINST  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD,  AND,  WHILE 
IT  PLEASES  MEN'S  FANCIES,  HINDERS  THEIR  FAITH."— DffVenailt. 


INTRODUCTION 


BY  THE  AMERICAN  EDITOR. 


IT  was  after  a  due  consideration  of  the  merits  and  de- 
fects of  the  '  SACRED  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  SEASONS,'  and  in 
the  expectation  that  the  latter  would  be  reduced  in  number 
and  importance  by  a  thorough  revision,  that  the  work 
was  adopted  by  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education  into 
'THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY.' 

Several  of  the  defects  of  this  work,  seem  to  be  inciden- 
tal to  its  plan.  Cursoriness,  incompleteness,  and  inequality 
of  execution  might  be  looked  for,  from  the  great  number 
and  variety  of  topics  introduced,  and  subjects  discussed,  in 
the  course  of  the  four  volumes,  and  from  the  impossibility 
that  an  equal  measure  of  attention  and  justice  should  be 
rendered  to  them  all,  by  one  individual  writer.  A  glance 
at  the  Table  of  Contents,  is  sufficient  to  convince  any 
reasonable  person,  that  a  thorough  treatment  of  the  various 
questions  of  art  and  science  there  comprehended,  in  so 
small  a  work  as  the  present,  is  wholly  out  of  the  question. 
Thoroughness  is  not,  and  could  not  have  been  a  charac- 
teristic of  these  volumes.  The  Author  makes  no  preten- 
sion to  it.  The  reader  should  not  demand  it. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  expected  that  all  the  questions  touched 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

upon  in  these  volumes,  should  be  handled  with  an  equal 
degree  of  ability  and  satisfactoriness.  A  compiler,  even 
as  a  compiler,  will  naturally  speak  best  concerning  the 
matter  with  which  he  is  best  acquainted.  Knowledge  and 
skill  are  required  to  compile  well  ;  and  it  may  easily  be 
ascertained,  from  the  extracts  which  are  made,  and  the 
character  of  the  authors  who  are  quoted  from,  whether  he 
who  employs  the  labors  of  others,  is  well  or  ill  versed  in  the 
subject  before  him.  The  '  SACRED  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE 
SEASONS'  holds  a  higher  rank  than  that  of  a  mere  compila- 
tion, because  it  contains  much  that  is  properly  original  ; 
but  on  many  of  the  topics  embraced  in  its  wide  range,  its 
Author  relies  wholly,  and  professedly,  on  the  authority  of 
other  writers,  and  adduces  their  very  words  ;  and  it  is  not 
difficult  to  discover  to  which  of  these  topics  he  is  himself 
most  partial,  and  concerning  which  he  knows  how  to  col- 
lect the  best  information.  Some  of  the  subjects  must  ne- 
cessarily suffer,  and  as  the  Editor  can  but  partially  remedy 
this  want  of  exact  justice,  on  account  of  his  own  prefer- 
ences on  the  one  hand  and  ignorances  on  the  other,  the 
defect  of  inequality  of  execution  may  be  regarded  as  in- 
herent in  the  nature  of  the  work. 

But  some  other  defects  were  perceived,  which,  though 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  were  more  remediable.  In  the 
Edinburgh  edition,  there  were  occasional  repetitions  and 
redundancies,  which,  in  the  present,  have  been  curtailed. 
There  were  errors,  some  of  them  to  be  attributed,  no 
doubt,  to  the  printer,  which  in  the  present  have  been  cor- 
rected. Not  a  few  of  these  errors  were  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  meaning  of  the  passage  in  which  they  occur- 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

red.  Such,  for  instance,  was  the  reading  Plantaria,  which, 
in  the  nomenclature  of  some  naturalists,  stands  for  a  section 
of  quadrupeds,  instead  of  Planaria,  which  is  a  tribe  of 
flat-shaped  aquatic  worms.  Names  of  individuals  and  of 
places  were  sometimes  misspelt,  and  quotations  from  Scrip- 
ture were  incorrectly  given.  It  is  believed  that  not  many 
errors,  of  the  nature  specified,  have  been  suffered  to  es- 
cape the  eyes  of  the  Editor,  and  those  who  have  assisted 
him. 

Whatever  were  found  to  be  the  deficiencies  of  this  work, 
its  merits  were  deemed,  very  greatly  to  outweigh  them  ; 
— merits  which  peculiarly  adapt  it  for  the  service  which 
the  Board  of  Education  has  in  view.  The  variety  of 
knowledge  which  it  embraces,  is  well  calculated  to  awaken 
and  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  young,  while  it  is  also  in- 
teresting to  maturer  years.  Though  this  variety  is  incom- 
patible with  thoroughness,  it  cannot  justly  be  denominated 
superficial,  because  it  is  observant  of  correctness,  and 
relies  on  the  best  authorities,  which,  in  natural  history  and 
science  especially,  are  the  latest.  This  variety,  also,  it  is 
to  be  noticed,  offers  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  a  wide 
choice  of  subjects,  suggesting  thoughts  and  inquiries  on 
all  of  them,  which  may  be  pursued  at  will  ;  and  though 
he  may  be  feebly  interested  by  some  of  these  subjects,  he 
may  be  induced  to  follow  up  and  investigate  others,  and 
consult  the  authors  who  are  referred  to  and  quoted,  to  his 
exceeding  gratification  and  benefit.  It  is  a  work  which 
instructs  and  informs  by  its  multitude  of  observations  and 
facts,  and  incites  to  reflection  and  further  study,  by  its  still 
greater  multitude  of  suggestions. 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

Another  merit  of  this  work,  is  its  religious  character 
and  tendency.  It  developes,  and  often  very  happily,  the 
sacred  philosophy  of  the  Seasons.  Its  main  object,  never 
lost  sight  of,  is  to  show  that  the  operations  of  Nature  are  the 
work  of  God's  hand,  the  intimations  of  his  presence  and 
agency,  the  proofs  of  his  wisdom,  the  manifestations  of 
his  love.  It  aims  at  constructing  no  cunning  argument,  at 
weaving  no  newly-devised  web  of  too  ingenious  thought, 
but  steadily  it  points  to  some  nice  adaptation,  some  beau- 
tiful arrangement  in  this  lower  world,  and  then  seriously 
up  to  the  Great  Designer.  It  produces  the  impression,  ac- 
cumulatively, page  after  page,  that  we  live  amid  surround- 
ing demonstrations  of  Supreme  Intelligence,  where  every 
thing  is  ordered,  and  cared  for,  and  adjusted,  and  nothing 
is  left  to  chance.  Its  influence  is  to  lead  the  mind  to  the 
religious  contemplation  and  study  of  the  exquisite  and  mar- 
vellous fabric  on  which  we  stand,  and  with  which  we  are 
placed  in  mysterious  contact.  A  happy  and  needed  influ- 
ence. We  have,  in  this  country,  enterprise  enough,  and 
men  of  enterprise  ;  politics  and  politicians  enough  ;  new 
ideas  and  theories  in  plenty  ;  sufficient  agitation  and  sec- 
tarism.  What  we  especially  want,  is  more  calmness,  and 
contentment,  and  refinement,  and  more  of  that  knowledge 
which  tends  to  inspire  them.  We  want  more  quiet  stu- 
dents of  God's  works,  earnest  though  quiet,  who  may 
diffuse  abroad  a  portion  of  that  peace  with  which  their 
own  hearts  are  imbued,  and  of  that  information  which  will 
insensibly  but  surely  operate  to  correct  the  crudities,  and 
soften  down  the  rudeness,  and  put  to  silence  the  quackeries 
of  the  times.  Such  a  work  as  the  present,  is  well  adapted 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

to  infuse  the  necessary  tastes  ;  to  give  an  impulse  and 
direction  to  the  dormant  love  of  Nature  which  exists  in 
almost  every  bosom  ;  to  show  the  reader,  by  glimpses 
here  and  there,  how  full  of  interest,  even  in  what  had 
seemed  before  the  most  uninteresting  quarters,  is  the  world 
in  which  he  lives  ;  and  to  cause  his  soul  to  harmonize 
with  the  order  and  music,  which  have  been  breathed  into 
that  wondrous  world  by  its  invisible  Creator. 

And  further,  these  volumes  are  recommended  by  the 
peculiar  method  of  their  arrangement,  which  renders  the 
perusal  of  their  contents  a  matter  of  most  easy  accom- 
plishment, whether  in  the  school,  or  the  family  circle. 
Each  one  of  the  volumes  is  devoted  to  a  separate  season, 
and  is  divided  into  as  many  chapters,  or  short  portions, 
as  there  are  days  in  that  season.  Thus,  in  the  course 
of  the  four  volumes,  every  day  in  the  year  has  its  allotted 
subject  and  chapter,  while  on  every  Sunday  there  is,  as 
it  were,  a  pause  of  rest,  in  which  is  introduced  a  brief  re- 
ligious discourse,  suited  to  the  subjects  of  discussion  which 
have  occupied  the  preceding  week.  The  length  of  these 
daily  portions  is  from  three  to  six  pages.  It  would  be 
easy,  in  a  school,  for  the  last  half  hour  of  the  day  to  be 
given  to  a  daily  portion  of  this  book,  which  would  afford 
time  not  only  for  the  requisite  reading,  but  for  such  re- 
marks and  explanations  as  might  be  offered  by  the  instruct- 
er  ;  the  portion  for  Sunday  might  be  read  together  with 
that  which  precedes  or  follows  it  ;  and  then  how  surely 
would  the  four  volumes  be  mastered  in  a  year,  and  not  as 
a  task,  but  a  pleasure  and  refreshment.  And  it  would  not 
be  too  much  to  say,  that  there  is  not  a  family  in  the  country, 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

however  diligently  their  hours  may  be  employed,  who,  if 
they  had  the  disposition,  could  not  find  ample  time  for  the 
same  course  of  reading.  Innocently  and  profitably  would 
the  half  hour  be  engaged  by  the  group  gathered  round 
the  table,  as  page  after  page  was  turned,  and  the  weeks 
and  the  seasons  passed  by.  And  when  the  last  leaf  of 
Autumn  was  finished,  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  some 
of  the  knowledge,  and  some  of  the  piety  contained  and 
inculcated  in  these  volumes,  did  not  remain  permanently 
behind,  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  readers. 

The  Author  of  this  work  begins  the  series  with  Winter, 
and  offers  satisfactory  reasons  for  so  doing  ;  but  he  gives 
no  reason  for  beginning  Winter  with  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, Spring  with  February,  Summer  with  May,  and  Au- 
tumn with  August,  though  this  arrangement  is  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  usual  division  of  the  Seasons.  It  appears  to 
the  Editor,  that  in  temperate  climates,  generally,  the  old 
distribution  of  the  months  corresponds  the  most  nearly  with 
the  appearances  of  Nature.  He  has  not  seen  fit,  however, 
to  alter  the  original  disposition  of  the  volumes  in  this  par- 
ticular. 

The  changes  which  have  been  made  by  the  Editor,  have 
already  been  alluded  to,  and  in  part  specified.  Carefully 
preserving  all  the  facts  and  trains  of  remark,  as  in  the 
original  work,  and  interfering  as  little  as  possible  with  the 
character  given  to  it  by  the  Author,  he  has,  however,  by 
the  addition  of  notes,  and  the  occasional  introduction  of 
passages  into  the  text,  adapted  it  to  the  place  which  it  is 
intended  to  occupy,  as  a  book  of  instruction  and  entertain- 
ment for  American  schools  and  families.  These  additions 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

and  insertions  are  marked  in  such  a  manner,  that  they  will 
be  immediately  distinguished  from  the  original  by  the  eye 
of  the  reader.  Words  and  phrases  of  a  technical  charac- 
ter, and  such  as  would  not  be  found  in  a  common  dictionary, 
have  been  explained,  either  in  the  body  of  the  work,  or  in 
a  glossary  at  its  close.  Still,  the  chief  part  of  the  Editor's 
labor  will  not  be  apparent  on  perusal.  It  consisted  in  fre- 
quent elisions,  of  greater  or  less  consequence,  the  silent 
correction  of  errors,  and  numerous  small  adaptations,  the 
whole  sum  of  which  could  only  be  ascertained  by  a  con- 
stant comparison  of  the  two  editions. 

In  one  respect,  the  office  of  the  Editor  has  been  of  some 
delicacy.  A  few  of  the  Sunday  papers  were  necessarily 
to  be  altered,  in  order  to  conform  the  volumes  to  the 
pledge  which  is  given  by  the  Board  of  Education,  that  the 
Library  shall  contain  nothing  offensive  to  the  sentiments 
of  different  religious  denominations.  The  required  altera- 
tions have  been  made  principally  by  the  simple  omission 
of  sentences  and  paragraphs,  and  in  two  or  three  instances 
only  by  substituting  entire  papers  in  the  place  of  those 
which  it  was  thought  proper  to  leave  out  ;  the  substituted 
papers  being  specified  in  their  place.  The  Author  would  of 
course  have  preferred  that  no  change  of  this  kind  should 
have  been  made  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  see  how  little  the 
integrity  of  his  own  and  his  friends'  religious  essays  has 
suffered,  it  is  believed  that  he  will  not  fail  to  be  satisfied 
that  a  due  discretion  has  been  used,  and  that  all  that  is  es- 
sential to  a  warm  and  vital  Christianity  has  been  preserved. 
A  few  scattered  sentences  may  even  now  be  found,  which 
may  not  exactly  coincide  with  the  opinions  of  some  sects 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

But  this  they  will  readily  pass  over  and  pardon.  Of  one 
thing,  the  Editor  is  certain, — that  he  has  carefully  and  con- 
scientiously abstained  from  introducing  any  of  the  peculiar 
opinions  of  the  denomination  to  which  he  himself  belongs. 

F.  W.  P.  GREENWOOD. 
Boston,  Aug.  1,  1839. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

INTRODUCTION,  by  the  American  Editor,  v 

AUTHOR'S  PREFACE,  .         .         .         .         .  1 

i.  SUNDAY. —  Goodness  of  God  to  his  Rational  Crea- 
tures,         ........  5 

The  Character  impressed  on  Nature — Compensation,  7 

The  Character  impressed  on  Nature — Contrivance,    '  12 

COSMICAL  ARRANGEMENTS. 

Globular  Figure  of  the  Earth,  .          .         .         .16 

Circulation  in  the  Atmosphere  and  Ocean,      .         .         19 

The  Atmosphere,  22 

Ignis  Fatuus,  or  Wildfire, 

ii.  SUNDAY. —  General  Jlspect  of  Winter,     .         .         .30 
Phosphorescence,  ......         33 

Aurora  Borealis,  or  Northern  Lights,         .         .         .36 
Meteoric  Showers,          ......          40 

Variety  of  Climates,  .          .          .          .          .          .44 

Practical  Effect  of  the  Commercial  Spirit  produced 

by  a  Variety  of  Climates,  ....          48 

Adaptation  of  Organized  Existences  to  Seasons  and 

Climates, 52 

in.  SUNDAY. — The  Omnipresence  of  God,        .         .         55 
Adaptation  of  Organized  Existences  to  the  Tropical 

Regions,  .......         59 

Adaptation  of  Organized  Existences  to  Temperate  and 

Polar  Climates,     .......     63 

The  Balance  Preserved  in  the  Animal  and  Vegetable 

Creation, 66 

Alternation  of  Day  and  Night,  .         .         .         .72 

Night.— Sleep, 76 

Night. — Dreaming,  ......     79 

iv.  SUNDAY.—  This  World  a  State  of  Discipline,     .         85 

I-  B  VII. 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

General  Remarks,  .         .         .         .         .         .89 

Gravitation  and  Inertia,       .....  93 

The  Planetary  System, 96 

The  Sun  as  the  Source  of  Light  and  Heat,           .  99 

Motions  of  the  Planets, 102 

Resisting  Medium,       ......  105 

v.  SUNDAY. — Divine  and  Human  Knowledge  com- 
pared,    110 

The  Satellites, 114 

Relative  Proportions  of  the  Planetary  System,           .  117 

Distances  of  the  Fixed  Stars,       .         .         .         .  120 

Immensity  of  the  Universe,      .....  123 

Nebulse, 127 

Binary  Stars, 131 

THE  MICROSCOPE. 

vi.  SUNDAY. — Discoveries  of  the  Telescope  and  Mi- 
croscope compared,  .  .  ,  .  .  .  135 

Wonders  of  the  Microscope. — Infusory  Animal- 
cules,    139 

HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. 

Plants  and  Animals  compared,     .         .         .         .  143 
Adjustment  of  the  Constitution  of  Plants  to  the  An- 
nual Cycle, 146 

Physiological  Condition  of  Plants  during  Winter,  150 

Physiological  Condition  of  Plants,  continued,            .  154 

HYBERNATION  OF  INSECTS. 

Instinct,           ........  158 

vn.  SUNDAY. — >-On  Seeing  God  in  his  Works>        .  162 
Reason  in  the  Lower  Animals,         .         .         .         .165 

Eggs, 170 

Various  States, 176 

Bees,           .,.,....  181 

The  Snail, 188 

The  Beetle,                  .....  191 

Animalcules  in  Paste,      .         .         .         .         .         .195 

vni.  SUNDAY. — Greatness  of  God  even  in  the  Small- 
est Things,  .  ,  * 196 


CONTENTS.  XV 

MIGRATIONS   OP  BIRDS  AND  QUADRUPEDS  DURING 
WINTER. 

Birds, .200 

Birds,  continued,          ......  204 

Birds  which  partially  migrate,          ....  209 

Quadrupeds, 213 

CHRISTMAS-DAY, 219 

JYb  Season  Unpleasant  to  the  Cheerful  Mind,           .  223 
ix.  SUNDAY. — Proofs  of  Divine  Benevolence   in  the 

Works  of  Creation,       ......  227 

MIGRATION  OF  FISHES. 

The  Sturgeon,  the  Herring,  the  Cod,  &c.        .         .  232 

Cetaceous  Animals,     ......  235 

Migration  of  Fishes  from  the  Sea  into  Rivers,           .  240 

Migration  of  Eels, 244 

NEW-YEAR'S-DAY, 248 

Migration  of  the  Land-Crab,         ....  253 

x.  SUNDAY. —  Winter  an  Emblem  of  Death,       .         .  258 

HYBERNATION  OF  QUADRUPEDS. 

Clothing, 262 

Storing  Instincts, 266 

Torpidity, 272 

HYBERNATION  OF  MAN. 

Privation  stimulates  his  Faculties,   ....  277 
Provisions  for  his  Comfort,           .... 
Adaptation  of  his  Constitution  to  the  Season,  .         .  286 
xi.  SUNDAY. — The  Unceasing  and  Universal  Provi- 
dence of  God, 289 

INHABITANTS   OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS. 

The  Esquimaux, 293 

Food  and  Clothing, 297 

Dwellings  and  Fire, 300 

FROST. 

Provision  for  causing  Ice  to  Float  on  the  Surface,  304 

The  Expansive  and  Non-conducting  Power  of  Ice,  307 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Amusements  connected  with  it,        .         .         .         .310 

xu.  SUNDAY. —  Winter   not    Monotonous. — Boundless 

Variety  of  Nature,        .         .         .         .         .         .313 

Effects  of  Frost  in  the  Northern  Regions,     .         .  319 

Agency  of  Frost  in  Mountainous  Regions,        .         .  322 

Hoar  Frost. — Foliations  on  Window-Glass,  SLC.,  .  325 

Beneficent  Contrivances  relative  to  Snow,        .         .  329 

Sagacity  and  Fidelity  of  the  Dog  in  Snow,  .         .  334 

GEOLOGY. 

Its  Phenomena  consistent  with  the  Mosaic  Account 
of  the  Creation,  .         .         .         .         .         .341 

xni.  SUNDAY. —  The  Difficulty  of  Comprehending  the 

Operations  of  Providence,     .....  345 

Successive  Periods  of  Deposit,     ....  349 

Fossil  Bird  Tracks, 351 

Successive  Periods  of  Organized  Existences,  .  358 
State  of  the  Antediluvian  World,  ....  362 
Indications  of  the  Action  of  the  Deluge  at  the  Pe- 
riod assigned  to  it  in  Scripture,  ....  366 
Cuvier's  Calculation  respecting  the  Deluge,  .  369 
Effects  of  the  Deluge  on  the  Present  Surface  of  the 

Earth, 374 

xiv.  SUNDAY. — The  Deluge  a  Divine  Judgement,  379 


IT  I         T 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


OF  all  the  works  on  Natural  Theology,  which,  in  former 
or  recent  times,  have  enlightened  and  delighted  the  pious 
mind,  none  of  any  great  extent,  or  of  much  importance, 
have  been  devoted  to  the  illustration  of  the  Divine  perfec- 
tions, in  connexion  with  the  Seasons  of  the  Year.  Yet  this 
is  a  view  at  once  interesting  and  popular.  The  changes 
of  the  seasons  display,  in  themselves,  a  remarkable  and 
beneficent  arrangement  ;  and  the  adaptations  by  which 
vegetable  and  animal  life  are  fitted  to  exist,  and  to  fulfil  the 
end  of  their  creation,  during  these  changes,  afford  ample 
materials  for  a  beautiful  and  striking  exhibition  of  the 
power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  Creator. 

In  investigating  this  subject,  we  meet  every  where  also, 
with  the  most  remarkable  analogies  in  the  character  of 
the  material  world,  with  that  which  is  so  distinctly  impressed 
on  Revealed  Truth  ;  and,  while  we  hence  derive  a  very 
satisfactory  argument  in  proof  of  their  origin  from  the  same 
Almighty  and  Intelligent  Author,  we  find,  that  these  kindred 
sources  of  information  continually  throw  a  light,  clear, 
consistent,  and  useful  on  each  other. 

The  attention  of  scientific  men,  while  it  has  of  late  been 
very  successfully,  has,  perhaps,  been  too  exclusively,  di- 
rected to  the  book  of  Nature,  in  illustration  of  the  Divine 
perfections  ;  and  those,  who  peruse  their  writings,  may  be 
induced  to  overlook  the  highly  important  truth,  that,  after 
all,  natural  religion  affords  but  an  imperfect  glimpse  into 
the  moral  attributes  of  the  Eternal. 

i.  1  vn. 


2  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

One  great  object  of  the  Author,  in  the  following  pages, 
is  to  show  that  the  God  of  Nature  can  only  be  known,  in 
the  perfection  of  His  character,  when  regarded  as  the  God 
of  Grace  ;  and  that  it  is  not  till  the  light  of  Revelation 
shines  on  the  Divine  operations,  that  the  clouds  and  dark- 
ness, which  surround  the  throne  of  the  Most  High,  are 
dispersed.  Under  the  illumination  of  this  celestial  light, 
the  study  of  creation  is,  in  the  highest  degree,  calculated 
to  expand  the  understanding,  enlighten  the  judgement,  and 
improve  the  heart.  If  it  be  true,  that  the  human  mind 
takes  its  character  from  the  nature  of  the  subjects  with 
which  it  is  conversant,  we  may  assuredly  expect  that  it 
will  be  ennobled  and  refined,  when  it  is  humbly,  judi- 
ciously, and  piously  occupied  in  investigating  the  attributes 
and  works  of  Him,  who  is  the  First  and  the  Last,  the 
Greatest  and  the  Best. 

The  most  important  and  animating  views  of  the  Creator 
and  His  operations,  in  reference  to  the  Seasons,  are  found 
scattered  through  many  publications,  which  it  has  been  the 
agreeable  task  of  the  Writer  to  combine  in  a  new  series, 
and  render  generally  accessible.  In  doing  this,  he  has 
frequently  quoted  the  precise  words  of  the  various  authors 
from  whom  he  has  borrowed  his  facts.  He  has  no  ambi- 
tion to  acquire  fame  as  an  original  writer ;  his  more  hum- 
ble, but  perhaps  not  less  useful  aim,  being  to  instruct  and 
edify  those  who  may  not  be  in  possession  of  many  works 
on  Natural  Theology,  by  rendering  them  acquainted  with 
the  discoveries,  which  have  been  made  by  others,  in  the 
most  interesting  of  all  sciences. 

The  plan  adopted  by  the  wellknown,  but  somewhat  an- 
tiquated, German  author,  STURM,  in  his  'Reflections,' 
has  been  so  far  imitated,  that  the  Work  contains  a  paper 
for  every  day  of  the  year,  and  is  thus  well  suited  for  stated 
family  reading.  The  chief  reasons  which  induced  STURM 
to  give  his  Work  this  form,  as  he  himself  observed  in  the 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  3 

advertisement  to  the  first  German  edition,  were, — "First, 
to  provide  a  sufficient  variety  ;  and,  secondly,  that  the 
reader  might  be  led  to  sanctify  each  day,  by  contemplating 
the  works  of  God."  These  are  also  the  motives  of  the 
present  writer ;  but  the  desultory  manner  and  declamatory 
style  of  this  author  he  has  endeavored  to  avoid  ;  and  a  more 
systematic  method  has  been  attempted,  replete  with  facts 
and  illustrations,  so  as  to  form  a  whole,  containing,  what 
the  title  expresses,  the  £  SACRED  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  SEA- 
SONS.' 

It  is  customary,  in  enumerating  the  Seasons,  to  com- 
mence with  Spring  ;  arid  it  may  be  proper,  in  a  few  words, 
to  state  one  or  two  reasons  which  induced  the  Author  to 
depart  from  that  order,  and  begin  with  Winter. 

Winter  is  not  the  death  of  Nature,  neither  is  it  merely 
the  season  of  Nature's  sleep  after  the  labors  of  the  vege- 
table world  are  finished.  A  thousand  secret  operations 
are  in  progress,  by  which  the  seeds,  buds,  and  roots,  of 
future  plants  and  flowers,  are  not  only  preserved  but  elab- 
orated, that,  when  the  prolific  months  of  Spring  arrive, 
they  may  burst  into  life  in  all  the  freshness  and  vigor  of  a 
new  birth.  This,  which  is  both  a  more  important  and  a 
more  interesting  view  than  that  which  is  commonly  enter- 
tained, represents  Winter  as  the  first  stage  in  the  processes 
and  developements  of  the  revolving  year,  and  fixes  it  as  the 
natural  commencement  of  a  Work,  which  has  for  its  object 
an  exhibition  of  the  SACRED  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  SEASONS. 

There  is  another  circumstance,  too,  which  involves  no 
principle,  indeed,  like  the  former,  but  which  renders  the 
plan  adopted  a  matter  at  least  of  convenient  arrangement. 
Winter  is  the  season  in  which,  although  the  hand  of  a 
beneficent  and  wonder-working  Creator  is  every  where  to 
be  distinctly  traced,  there  are  fewer  objects  of  interest,  in 
comparison  with  the  other  seasons,  to  arrest  the  attention, 
and  to  engage  the  rnind  in  devout  contemplation  of  the 


Divine  perfections.  An  Author,  studying  to  gain  the  pub- 
lic favor,  must,  doubtless,  regard  this  as  a  disadvantage 
in  making  his  first  appearance  ;  but  then,  it  has  this  coun- 
terbalancing use,  that  space  is  thus  gained  for  some  neces- 
sary introductory  papers  on  the  broader  and  more  gen- 
eral cosmical  arrangements,  which  are  peculiar  to  none  of 
the  seasons,  but  common  to  them  all.  As  the  plan  of  daily 
reflections,  of  a  certain  moderate  length,  obliges  the  Au- 
thor to  stretch  his  literary  offspring,  as  it  were,  on  Pro- 
crustes' bed,  the  convenience  of  including  such  papers  in 
the  volume  devoted  to  Winter  will  be  readily  acknowl- 
edged. 

The  expressions,  "contrivance,"  "ingenuity,"  "com- 
pensation for  defects,"  &c.,  as  applied  to  the  operations 
of  the  Eternal,  seem,  in  some  sense,  to  detract  from  the 
infinite  perfection  of  His  character,  and  to  bring  the  exer- 
cise of  His  attributes  too  much  on  a  level  with  the  opera- 
tions of  the  human  mind.  But  this  arises  from  a  defect, 
not  merely  in  the  language,  but  the  conceptions  of  men  ; 
and  while  we  are  sensible  of  the  inadequacy  of  these 
expressions,  we  know  not  how  to  apply  a  remedy.  In  this, 
the  Writer  only  follows  in  the  track  of  others. 

The  Sunday  papers  contain  religious  and  moral  reflec- 
tions, generally  suggested  by  the  subject  of  discussion  on 
the  preceding  week. 

A  few  papers  have  been  kindly  furnished  by  ingenious 
friends,  which  are  distinguished  from  those  of  the  Author, 
by  being  subscribed  with  their  initials. 

RUTHWELL  MANSE, 
October  20,  1836. 


^jjj$0^ 

SACRED    PHILOSOPHY 

OF   THE 

SEASONS. 


WINTER. 
FIRST  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

GOODNESS  OF  GOD  TO  HIS  RATIONAL  CREATURES. 

WE  are  about  to  commence  a  course  of  study,  which 
will  lay  before  us,  in  detail,  abundant  proofs  of  benefi- 
cent design,  exhibited  in  the  various  departments  of 
creation  ;  and  we  surely  cannot  better  employ  this  first 
day  of  the  first  week  of  our  delightful  and  edifying  task, 
than  in  considering  some  of  the  more  obvious  and  gener- 
al evidences  of  the  paternal  regard,  which  the  Creator 
bestows  on  our  race — the  chief  of  his  sublunary  works. 

But  the  difficulty  lies  in  knowing  where  to  begin,  and 
what  to  select ;  for  we  cannot  turn  in  any  direction  where 
His  love  does  not  smile  around  us.  In  Him  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being  ;  and  all  that  we  possess  flows 
entirely  from  the  exhaustless  source  of  His  bounty. 
From  the  first  moment  of  our  existence,  His  guardian 
arm  surrounded  us,  and  at  this  instant  we  are  the  objects 
of  His  providential  care.  He  listened  to  our  helpless 
cries,  and  supplied  all  our  infant  wants,  before  our  hearts 
had  learned  to  acknowledge  their  Benefactor,  or  our 
tongues  to  pronounce  His  name.  It  was  He  who  opened 
the  bosoms  of  our  parents  to  impressions  of  tenderness, 
and  taught  them  to  experience  a  nameless  delight  in  those 
1* 


GOODNESS    OF  GOD 


little  attentions  which  our  tender  years  required.  To 
secure  the  good  offices  of  the  generous,  He  clothed  our 
countenances  in  the  smiles  of  innocence  ;  and,  to  soften 
the  hearts  of  the  cruel,  He  caused  our  eyes  to  overflow 
with  tears.  He  strengthened  our  bodies,  and  enlarged 
our  minds.  Through  all  the  slippery  paths  of  youth, 
His  hand  unseen  conducted  us,  guarding  us  from  temp- 
tation, delivering  us  from  danger,  and  crowning  our  days 
with  His  goodness.  And  whatever  period  of  life  we 
have  now  reached,  we  owe  our  continued  lives  to  His 
preserving  care,  and  our  blessings,  both  past  and  present, 
to  His  paternal  bounty. 

Let  us  look  at  particulars.  If  we  turn  to  our  connex- 
ion with  surrounding  nature,  it  is  God's  air  which  we 
breathe,  and  God's  sun  that  enlightens  us.  The  grateful 
vicissitudes  of  day  and  night,  the  revolutions  of  the  sea- 
sons, marked  by  the  regular  return  of  summer  and  win- 
ter, seedtime  and  harvest,  are  all  appointed  by  His  uner- 
ring wisdom.  It  is  His  pencil,  which  paints  the  flower, 
and  His  fragrance,  which  it  exhales.  By  His  hand,  the 
fields  are  clothed  in  beauty,  and  caused  to  teem  with 
plenty.  At  His  command,  the  mountains  rose,  the  val- 
leys sank,  and  the  plains  were  stretched  out.  His  seas 
surround  our  coasts,  and  His  winds  blow,  to  waft  to  us 
the  treasures  of  distant  lands,  and  to  extend  the  inter- 
course of  man  with  man. 

But  we  are  made  capable  of  more  exalted  enjoyments 
than  can  be  derived  from  external  nature  ;  and  He,  who 
formed  us  with  these  capacities,  has  not  left  us  without 
the  means  of  exercising  them.  Originally  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  the  human  soul,  as  if  conscious  of  its  ce- 
lestial origin,  finds  permanent  enjoyment  only  in  the 
cultivation  of  those  faculties  which  prove  its  resemblance 
to  its  Creator.  Nor  has  the  Father  of  mercies  left  us 
without  the  means  of  such  enjoyment.  In  society,  the 
pleasures  of  beneficence, and  the  movements  of  compas- 
sion ;  in  friendship,  the  interchange  of  good  offices,  and 
the  balm  of  sympathy  ;  in  domestic  life,  the  tenderness 
of  conjugal  affection,  and  the  endearments  of  filial  and 
parental  duty  ;  and,  to  crown  all,  in  religion,  the  sublime 


TO   HIS   RATIONAL   CREATURES.  7 

enjoyments  of  devotion,  and  the  blessed  hopes  of  immor- 
tality, give  an  unspeakable  charm  to  existence,  and  prove 
the  Divine  Being  who  bestowed  these  gifts,  to  be  full  of 
condescending  kindness  to  his  rational  offspring. 

"How  gracious  indeed  the  care  which  has  provided  a 
remedy  for  our  spiritual  wants,  and  an  answer  for  those 
longings  and  fears  which  look  beyond  our  present  dwel- 
ling, and  make  earnest  inquiries  of  eternity  !  How  pre- 
cious that  Divine  word,  which  bears  assurance  of  pardon 
to  the  sincerely  repentant,  and  promises  of  peace  and  joy 
to  the  sorrowful  and  broken-hearted ;  which  tells  of  a 
merciful  Saviour,  who  was  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, who  was  acquainted  with  our  griefs,  and  who  died 
that  we  might  live  !  These  blessings  change  not  with  the 
changing  seasons,  nor  pass  away  with  the  rolling  years." 
When  the  believer  thinks  of  them,  his  heart  overflows 
with  gratitude  ;  and  the  deep  emotion  which  they  excite, 
finds  no  language  more  suitable  for  its  expression,  than 
the  short,  but  emphatic  exclamation  of  an  apostle, — 
"  Thanks  be  to  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift !" 


FIRST  WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE  CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. COMPENSATION. 

BEFORE  proceeding  to  the  examination  of  particulars, 
with  the  view  of  exhibiting  the  attributes  of  the  great 
Creator,  as  manifested  in  the  seasons  of  the  year,  it  is  of 
importance  to  discover  the  nature  of  the  principles  which 
are  to  form  the  subject  of  our  investigation  ;  more  espe- 
cially, as  there  is  certainly  something  very  remarka- 
ble in  the  character  impressed  on  the  created  objects 
within  the  sphere  of  our  observation.  Were  we  to  com- 
mence the  inquiry  without  the  aid  of  experience,  found- 
ing our  expectations  on  the  abstract  theories  of  perfec- 
tion which  we  might  form  in  the  closet,  we  should  assur- 


8        CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. 

edly  meet  with  difficulties  and  disappointments  at  every 
step  of  our  progress.  We  shall  in  vain  seek  for  proofs 
of  absolute  perfection,  either  in  the  physical  or  moral 
condition  of  this  lower  world.  It  is  a  scene  of  perpetual 
change  ;  of  beauty,  ending  in  deformity  ;  of  pleasure, 
succeeded  by  pain  ;  of  success,  giving  way  to  disap- 
pointment ;  of  life,  vigor,  and  brightness,  alternating  with 
gloom,  decay,  and  death  ;  and,  if  the  actions  of  rational 
agents  be  regarded,  it  is  a  union  of  wisdom  and  folly, 
nobility  and  meanness,  virtue  and  vice.  Instead  of  per- 
fection, we  have  here  the  very  reverse.  Where,  then, 
are  we  to  seek  for  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  an  All- 
powerful  and  Intelligent  First  Cause  ?  Our  answer  is,— 
In  the  general  character  and  tendencies  of  the  system  ; 
in  the  arrangements  by  which  evils  are  averted  or  miti- 
gated, and  excellence  is  drawn  from  the  very  bosom  of 
apparent  defect  and  worthlessness.  We  are  not  to  ex- 
pect absolute,  but  only  relative  good  ;  not  the  absence 
of  evil,  but  compensations  for  it ;  not  perfection,  but  a 
bias  towards  it.  In  regarding  the  whole  system,  we 
seem  to  behold  a  piece  of  vast  and  amazing  mechanism, 
of  which  the  materials  are  defective  or  positively  unsound, 
but  the  workmanship  perfect.  The  wisdom  lies  in  the 
admirable  execution  of  a  work  apparently  full  of  difficul- 
ties and  obstructions  ;  and  the  goodness,  in  the  conver- 
sion of  what  would  seem  to  be  naturally  evils,  into  agents 
of  virtue  and  instruments  of  enjoyment. 

This,  however,  is  certainly  not  the  real,  but  only  the 
apparent,  state  of  things.  That  the  power  of  the  Eter- 
nal, as  well  as  his  intellectual  and  moral  perfections,  is 
infinite,  it  is  on  other  grounds  impossible  to  doubt  :  that 
we  cannot  perceive  these  perfections  in  all  their  extent 
manifested  in  his  works,  must  therefore  proceed  from  a 
deficiency  in  the  grasp  of  our  minds  :  but  we  must  treat 
of  them  according  to  our  own  perceptions  ;  and  the  evi- 
dence of  Divine  wisdom  and  goodness  which,  under  the 
modification  we  have  endeavored  to  explain,  breaks  in 
upon  us  from  every  side,  is  probably,  in  some  respects, 
better  suited  to  call  forth  the  wonder,  admiration,  and 
gratitude  of  such  limited  creatures  as  we  are,  than  even 


COMPENSATION.  9 

if  we  were  to  see  the  hand  of  the  Creator  less  darkly. 
The  view  might  be  too  vast,  and  the  glory  too  effulgent 
for  our  mortal  vision. 

An  apt  illustration  of  the  kind  of  defect  and  compen- 
sation, which  seem  to  be  inherent  in  the  system  of  our 
world,  may  be  found  by  attending  to  the  state  of  external 
nature  in  the  present  season  of  the  year.  That  there 
are  disadvantages  and  privations  in  Winter,  under  which 
all  animated  nature  seems  to  shrink  and  groan,  is  undeni- 
able ;  yet  how  many  abatements,  and  how  much  positive 
enjoyment  have  we  to  place  in  the  opposite  scale  ! 

It  will  be  my  duty  to  examine  these  abatements  of 
evil,  and  these  actual  blessings,  separately,  in  the  course 
of  our  inquiry  ;  but  let  us  take  one  example  by  way  of 
illustration.  In  our  climate,  and  in  all  the  regions 
which  verge  toward  the  poles,  within  certain  limits,  one 
of  the  discomforts  of  winter,  which  must  occur  to  every 
person  who  thinks  on  the  subject,  is  the  shortness  and 
gloom  of  the  day.  The  sun  rises  late,  looks  down  for  a 
few  hours  with  diminished  glory  on  a  blasted  world,  and 
then  goes  rapidly  away,  leaving  all  nature  to  the  dark- 
ness of  a  tedious  night.  This  is  dreadful ;  yet  see  how 
it  is  rendered  a  source  of  pleasure  and  improvement  ! 
If,  during  the  absence  of  the  sun,  we  look  at  the  starry 
heavens,  what  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  wonders  does 
astronomy  unfold,  at  once  to  exalt  and  to  humble  the 
human  mind, — to  fill  us  with  admiration  of  the  Divine 
perfections,  and  to  teach  us  the  salutary  lesson  of  our 
own  insignificance.  It  does  not  require  that  we  should 
dive  into  the  mysteries  of  this  science,  by  means  of  the 
telescope,  before  these  sentiments  arise.  They  belong 
to  every  age  of  the  world,  to  every  stage  of  advancement 
in  science,  and  to  every  station  in  life.  There  is  no  ex- 
pression of  devotional  feeling  to  which  even  "babes  and 
sucklings,"  as  it  is  emphatically  said,  more  readily  re- 
spond, than  that  of  the  psalmist,  "When  I  consider  thy 
heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars 
which  thou  hast  ordained; — what  is  man,  O  Lord,  that 
thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man  that  thou 
visitest  him  ?"  How  blank  and  dismal  would  be  the 


10       CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. 

darkness  of  a  long  winter  night,  were  it  not  cheered  and 
rendered  sublime  by  the  splendor  of  the  starry  firma- 
ment ! 

Look,  again,  at  the  comforts  and  domestic  endear- 
ments of  a  winter-evening  fireside.  Who,  that  has  ex- 
perienced these,  will  allege  that  winter  is  inferior  to  sum- 
mer, either  in  its  enjoyments  or  in  its  means  of  improve- 
ment ?  When  early  night  has  spread  its  shade  over 
external  nature,  and  labor  has  ceased  in  the  fields,  and 
the  sound  of  busy  feet  is  more  rarely  heard  along  the 
streets  ;  when  the  shutters  are  closed,  and  the  curtains 
drawn,  and  the  fire  blazes  in  the  grate,  and  the  candle 
stands  on  the  table,  shedding  artificial  day,  and  a  united 
family,  shutting  out  the  world,  retire  within  their  own 
beloved  circle,  to  enjoy  the  social  hours  ;  when  the  father 
and  mother  occupy  their  wonted  chimney  corners,  and 
the  children,  while  their  hands,  perchance,  are  engaged 
in  some  light  employment,  listen  with  interest  to  the  in- 
struction of  some  well-chosen  book,  or  bear  their  parts 
in  edifying  and  endearing  conversation, — who  will  not 
confess  that  there  are  advantages  in  this  intercourse, 
which  longer  days,  and  a  more  genial  atmosphere,  with 
all  the  attractions  of  vocal  woods  and  flowery  meads,  can 
scarcely  equal  ? 

Here,  then,  we  have  compensation  for  an  acknow- 
ledged evil  : — we  have  even  more.  This  evil  is  con- 
verted into  means  of  pleasure  and  improvement  ;  and 
such  is  precisely  the  character  of  Creative  Wisdom  and 
Goodness,  into  which  we  have  to  inquire.  He,  who 
expects  to  find  a  higher  grade  of  perfection  in  those  mani- 
festations of  nature  with  which  he  is  surrounded,  will  as- 
suredly be  disappointed. 

[u  The  Great  Author  of  our  being,"  says  Dr.  Roget,  in 
his  Bridge  water  Treatise,  u  who,  while  he  has  been  pleas- 
ed to  confer  on  us  the  gift  of  reason,  has  prescribed  certain 
limits  to  its  powers,  permits  us  to  acquire,  by  its  exercise, 
aknowledge  of  some  of  the  wondrous  works  of  his  creation, 
to  interpret  the  characters  of  wisdom  and  goodness  with 
which  they  are  impressed,  and  to  join  our  voice  to  the  gen- 
eral chorus  which  proclaims  c  his  Might,  Majesty,  and  Do- 


COMPENSATION.  11 

minion. '  From  the  same  gracious  hand  we  also  derive  that 
unquenchable  thirst  foreknowledge  which  this  fleeting  life 
must  ever  leave  unsatisfied  ;  those  endowments  of  the 
moral  sense,  with  which  the  present  constitution  of  the 
world  so  ill  accords  ;  and  that  innate  desire  of  perfec- 
tion which  our  present  frail  condition  is  so  inadequate  to 
fulfil.  But  it  is  not  given  to  man  to  penetrate  into  the 
counsels,  or  fathom  the  designs  of  Omnipotence  ;  for  in 
directing  his  views  into  futurity,  the  feeble  light  of  his 
reason  is  scattered  and  lost  in  the  vast  abyss.  Although 
we  plainly  discern  intention  in  every  part  of  the  creation, 
the  grand  object  of  the  whole  is  placed  far  above  the 
scope  of  our  comprehension.  It  is  impossible,  however, 
to  conceive  that  this  enormous  expenditure  of  power, 
this  vast  accumulation  of  contrivances  and  of  machinery, 
and  this  profusion  of  existence  resulting  from  them,  can 
thus,  from  age  to  age,  be  prodigally  lavished,  without 
some  ulterior  end.  Is  Man,  the  favored  creature  of  Na- 
ture's bounty,  '  the  paragon  of  animals,'  whose  spirit 
holds  communion  with  celestial  powers,  formed  but  to 
perish  with  the  wreck  of  his  bodily  frame  ?  Are  gen- 
erations after  generations  of  his  race  doomed  to  follow 
in  endless  succession,  rolling  darkly  down  the  stream  of 
time,  and  leaving  no  track  in  its  pathless  ocean  ?  Are 
the  operations  of  Almighty  power  to  end  with  the  pres- 
ent scene  ?-  May  we  not  discern  in  the  spiritual  consti- 
tution of  man  the  traces  of  higher  powers,  to  which  those 
he  now  possesses  are  but  preparatory  ;  some  embryo 
faculties  which  raise  us  above  this  earthly  habitation  ? 
Have  we  not  in  the  imagination,  a  power,  but  little  in  har- 
mony with  the  fetters  of  our  bodily  organs  ;  and  bringing 
within  our  view  purer  conditions  of  being,  exempt  from 
the  illusion  of  our  senses,  and  the  infirmities  of  our  nature, 
our  elevation  to  which,  will  eventually  prove  that  all 
these  unsated  desires  of  knowledge,  and  all  these  ardent 
aspirations  after  moral  good,  were  not  implanted  in  us  in 
vain  ? 

"  Happily  there  has  been  vouchsafed  to  us,  from  a 
higher  source,  a  pure  and  heavenly  light  to  guide  our 
faltering  steps,  and  animate  our  fainting  spirit,  in  this 


12      CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. 

dark  and  dreary  search  ;  revealing  those  truths  which  it 
imports  us  most  of  all  to  know,  giving  to  morality  higher 
sanctions,  elevating  our  hopes  and  our  affections  to  no- 
bler objects  than  belong  to  earth,  and  inspiring  more 
exalted  themes  of  thanksgiving  and  of  praise."  AM.  ED.] 


FIRST  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE  CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. CONTRIVANCE. 

FROM  the  example  stated  yesterday,  some  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  kind  of  compensation  for  permitted  evils 
which  is  every  where  to  be  discovered  in  the  works  of 
creation  ;  but  another,  and  equally  marked  feature  in  the 
face  of  nature,  is  that  of  the  most  ingenious  contrivances, 
to  avoid  evils  which  would  otherwise  occur,  or  to  insure 
advantages  which  could  not  otherwise  be  obtained.  An 
example  or  two  of  this  unequivocal  proof  of  a  wise  and 
beneficent  Designer  will  illustrate  this  subject. 

For  these  I  shall  take  advantage  of  the  ingenious  Trea- 
tise of  Sir  Charles  Bell  on  the  Human  Hand,  which  is, 
throughout,  a  most  masterly  exposition  of  the  argument, 
arising  from  this  very  view.  The  first  which  I  select  is 
taken  from  his  chapter  on  the  "  Sensibility  of  the  Sur- 
face, compared  with  the  deeper  parts."  That  the  skin 
is  extremely  sensible  to  pain,  no  one  need  be  informed ; 
but  few,  perhaps,  have  sufficiently  attended  to  the  fact, 
which  is  yet  within  the  reach  of  any  person's  observation, 
that  the  pain  does  not  increase  in  proportion  to  the  depth 
of  the  wound,  the  sensibility  being  almost  exclusively 
confined  to  the  outward  covering  of  the  body.  This 
has  been  very  convincingly  proved  to  be  a  contrivance 
of  much  wisdom  and  benevolence.  After  stating  the  fact, 
and  showing  it  to  be  a  matter  of  daily  surgical  experience, 
the  author  justly  observes,  that  the  obvious  intention  is, 
that  the  skin  should  be  a  safeguard  to  the  delicate  tex- 


CONTRIVANCE.  13 

tures  which  are  contained  within,  by  forcing  us  to  avoid 
injuries  ;  and  that  it  does  afford  us  a  more  effectual  de- 
fence than  if  our  bodies  were  covered  with  the  hide  of  a 
rhinoceros. 

u  In  pursuing  the  inquiry,"  says  he,  u  we  learn,  with 
much  interest,  that  when  the  bones,  joints,  and  all  the 
membranes  and  ligaments  which  cover  them,  are  exposed, 
they  may  be  cut,  pricked,  or  even  burned,  without  the 
patient  or  the  animal  suffering  the  slightest  pain.  These 
facts  must  appear  to  be  conclusive  ;  for  who,  witnessing 
these  instances  of  insensibility,  would  not  conclude  that 
the  parts  were  devoid  of  sensation ;  but  when  we  take 
the  true  philosophical,  and,  I  may  say,  religious  view  of 
the  subject,  and  consider  that  pain  is  not  an  evil,  but 
given  for  benevolent  purposes,  and  for  some  important 
object,  we  should  be  unwilling  to  terminate  the  investi- 
gation here. 

"  In  the  first  place,  we  must  perceive,  that,  if  a  sen- 
sibility, similar  to  that  of  the  skin,  had  been  given  to  these 
internal  parts,  it  must  have  remained  unexercised.  Had 
they  been  made  sensible  to  pricking  and  burning,  they 
would  have  possessed  a  quality  which  would  never  have 
been  useful,  since  no  such  injuries  can  reach  them,  or 
never  without  warning  being  received  through  the  sen- 
sibility of  the  skin. 

"But,  further,  if  we  find  that  sensibility  to  pain  is  a 
benevolent  provision,  and  is  bestowed  for  the  purpose  of 
warning  us  to  avoid  such  violence  as  would  affect  the 
functions  or  uses  of  the  parts,  we  may  yet  inquire,  wheth- 
er any  injury  can  reach  these  internal  parts,  without  the 
sensibility  of  the  skin  being  excited.  Now,  of  this  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  for  they  are  subject  to  sprain,  and  rup- 
ture, and  shocks,  without  the  skin  being  implicated  in 
the  accident.  If  we  have  been  correct  in  our  inference, 
there  should  be  a  provision  to  guide  us  in  the  safe  exer- 
cise of  the  limbs  ;  and,  notwithstanding  what  has  been 
apparently  demonstrated  of  the  insensibility  of  these  in- 
ternal parts,  they  must  possess  an  appropriate  sensibility, 
or  it  would  imply  an  imperfection.  With  these  reflec- 
tions we  recur  to  experiment,  and  we  find  that  the  parts 
i.  2  vii. 


14       CHARACTER  IMPRESSED  ON  NATURE. 

which  are  insensible  to  pricking,  cutting,  and  burning, 
are  actually  sensible  to  concussion,  to  stretching,  or  lac- 
eration. 

u  How  consistent,  then,  and  beautiful  is  the  distribu- 
tion of  this  quality  of  life  !  The  sensibility  of  pain  va- 
ries with  the  function  of  the  part.  The  skin  is  endowed 
with  sensibility  to  every  possible  injurious  impression 
which  may  be  made  upon  it ;  but  had  this  kind  and  de- 
gree of  sensibility  been  made  universal,  we  should  have 
been  racked  with  pain  in  the  common  motions  of  the 
body  ;  the  mere  weight  of  one  part  on  another,  or  the 
motion  of  the  joint,  would  have  been  attended  with  that 
degree  of  suffering  which  we  experience  in  using  or 
walking  upon  an  inflamed  limb. 

"  But,  on  the  other  hand,  had  the  deeper  parts  pos- 
sessed no  sensibility,  we  should  have  had  no  guide  in  our 
exertions.  They  have  a  sensibility  limited  to  the  kind 
of  injury  which  it  is  possible  may  reach  them,  and  which 
teaches  us  what  we  can  do  with  impunity.  If  we  leap 
from  too  great  a  height,  or  carry  too  great  a  burden,  or 
attempt  to  interrupt  a  body  whose  impetus  is  too  great 
for  us,  we  are  warned  of  the  danger  as  effectually  by  this 
internal  sensibility,  as  we  are  of  the  approach  of  a  sharp 
point,  or  a  hot  iron  to  the  skin."* 

To  this  striking  pathological  argument  for  benevolent 
contrivance,  might  be  added  proofs  without  end,  from  the 
principles  of  mechanics.  The  whole  animal  frame,  in- 
deed, is  a  piece  of  the  most  exquisite  mechanism,  and 
the  studies  of  the  anatomist  abound  with  demonstrations 
of  the  most  satisfactory  kind.  Not  only  do  we  find  every 
joint,  bone,  and  sinew,  of  every  species  of  animal,  so 
adapted  to  all  the  rest,  and  to  the  nature  of  its  food  and 
habits,  as  to  constitute  a  perfect  system,  considered  in 
itself,  but  when  one  species  of  living  creatures  is  com- 
pared with  others,  new  kinds  of  relations  and  adaptations 
are  discovered,  which  greatly  extend  our  views  of  crea- 
tive contrivance,  and  increase  our  admiration.  Sir 
Charles  Bell,  in  the  work  from  which  we  have  quoted, 

*  Bell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  pp.  155—157. 


CONTRIVANCE.  15 

has  followed  out  this  inquiry,  as  respects  the  human  hand, 
in  a  very  interesting  manner  ;  and  we  cannot  better  close 
this  paper,  than  by  extracting  a  few  sentences  from  a 
passage  where  he  follows  out  the  principle  on  which  he 
so  successfully  expatiates. 

"Were  I  to  indulge  in  the  admiration  naturally  aris- 
ing out  of  this  subject,  and  point  out  the  strength  and 
freedom  of  motion  in  the  upper  extremity  at  the  ball  and 
socket  joint  of  the  shoulder, — the  firmness  of  the  artic- 
ulation of  the  elbow,  and  yet  how  admirably  it  is  suited 
to  the  cooperation  of  the  hands, — the  fineness  of  the  mo- 
tion of  the  hand  itself,  divided  among  the  joints  of  twenty- 
nine  bones,  it  might  be  objected  to  with  some  show  of 
reason,  and  it  might  be  said, — The  bones  and  the  forms 
of  the  joints  which  you  are  admiring,  are  so  far  from  be- 
ing peculiarly  suited  to  the  hand  of  man,  that  they  may 
be  found  in  any  vertebrated  animal.  But  this  would  not 
abate  our  admiration  ;  it  would  only  induce  us  to  take  a 
more  comprehensive  view  of  nature,  and  remind  us  that 
our  error  was  in  looking  at  a  part  only,  instead  of  em- 
bracing the  whole  system  ;  where,  by  slight  changes,  and 
gradations  hardly  perceptible,  the  same  bones  are  adjust- 
ed to  every  condition  of  animal  existence. 

"  We  recognise  the  bones  which  form  the  upper  ex- 
tremity of  man,  in  the  fin  of  a  whale,  in  the  paddle  of 
the  turtle,  in  the  wing  of  the  bird.  We  see  the  same 
bones,  perfectly  suited  to  their  purpose,  in  the  paw  of 
the  lion  or  the  bear,  and  equally  fitted  for  motion  in  the 
hoof  of  the  horse,  or  in  the  foot  of  the  camel,  or  adjusted 
for  climbing  or  digging,  in  the  long-clawed  feet  of  the 
sloth  or  bear  [beaver?].  ***** 

"The  wonder  still  is,  that,  whether  we  examine  this 
system  in  man,  or  in  any  of  the  inferior  species  of  ani- 
mals, nothing  can  be  more  curiously  adjusted  or  appro- 
priated ;  and  we  should  be  inclined  to  say,  whatever 
instance  occupied  our  thoughts  for  the  time,  that  to  this 
particular  object  the  system  had  been  framed."* 

*  Bell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  pp.  20—22. 


16  GLOBULAR  FIGURE   OF  THE   EARTH. 


FIRST  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

GLOBULAR  FIGURE  OF  THE  EARTH. 

THE  character  which,  in  the  two  preceding  papers, 
we  stated  as  belonging  to  the  works  of  God,  consisting, 
as  it  does,  not  in  absolute  perfection,  but  rather  in  con- 
trivances and  compensations  to  abate  imperfection,  runs 
through  every  thing  in  nature,  and  may  be  equally  traced 
in  the  moral  and  physical  worlds.  It  may  be  useful  and 
interesting  to  examine  this  character  in  some  of  the  great 
arrangements  of  external  nature. 

That  the  universe  should  be  governed  by  general  laws 
impressed  on  matter,  is  a  providential  arrangement,  the 
consummate  wisdom  of  which  it  requires  no  effort  of 
reasoning  to  demonstrate  ;  and  that  these  laws  should 
be  fixed  and  undeviating,  is  a  necessary  consequence  of 
their  existence  ;  for,  were  they  to  any  great  extent  to 
yield  to  circumstances,  they  would  cease  to  possess  the 
character  of  principles,  on  the  results  of  which  it  would 
be  possible  either  to  reason  or  to  act, — that  is,  they  would 
cease  to  be  general  laws.  Now,  one  of  these  general 
laws,  as  simple  in  its  nature,  as  it  is  universal  in  its  opera- 
tions, and  amazing  in  its  effects,  is  the  principle  of  gravita- 
tion, of  which  it  has  been  beautifully  said, — 

"  The  very  law  which  moulds  a  tear, 

And  makes  it  trickle  from  its  source, 
That  law  preserves  the  earth  a  sphere, 
And  guides  the  planets  in  their  course."* 

The  globular  figure  of  the  earth,  which  is  the  result 
of  this  law,  and  which  may  easily  be  shown  to  possess 
many  important  advantages,  presents  this  formidable  dif- 
ficulty,— that  the  rays  of  the  sun,  issuing  in  parallel  lines 
from  that  luminary,  must  fall  directly  upon  that  part  of 
the  terrestrial  ball  which  is  immediately  opposed  to  them, 


Rogers. 


GLOBULAR  FIGURE    OF  THE   EARTH.  17 

and  obliquely,  and  therefore  less  powerfully,  upon  all 
other  parts  of  its  convex  surface,  till,  at  the  extremes  of 
the  hemisphere,  they  would  entirely  cease  to  reach  the 
earth.  Were  the  earth  stationary,  therefore,  the  con- 
sequence of  its  globular  form  would  be,  that  the  sun 
would  shine  intensely  and  constantly  on  a  single  spot, 
while  one-half  of  its  surface  would  be  left  in  total  dark- 
ness, and  the  other  would  be  illuminated  with  greater  or 
less  force,  according  to  its  distance  from  the  sun's  direct 
rays.  The  disadvantages  of  such  an  arrangement  need 
no  comment.  Now,  one  way  in  which  this  evil  is  abated, 
is,  by  what  is  called  the  diurnal  rotation  of  the  earth. 
Our  globe  is  made  to  whirl  round  as  on  two  pivots,  which 
are  called  the  poles*  of  the  earth,  once  in  twenty-four 
hours.  This,  while  it  causes  the  grateful  alternation  of 
day  and  night,  conveys  light  and  heat  round  the  world, 
so  as  to  diffuse  them  with  nearly  equal  force  on  every 
spot  within  the  same  parallel  of  latitude.  Were  the 
earth  in  the  form  of  a  cylinder  or  roller,  this  rotatory 
motion  would  cause  the  sun,  in  the  course  of  the  annual 
revolution,  to  shine  equally  on  every  part  of  its  round 
surface,  while  his  rays  would  never  reach  the  wide  flat 
regions  at  either  end  ;  the  days  and  nights  would  then  be 
invariably  of  the  same  length  ;  there  would  be  no  change 
of  climate,  and  all  the  habitable  parts  of  the  earth  would 
be  one  burning  tropical  region,  without  abatement  and 
without  variety.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  earth,  in  its 
present  form  of  a  ball,  were  to  have  no  yearly  as  well  as 
daily  motion,  or,  having  a  yearly  motion,  were  to  move 
round  its  own  axis  in  what  may  be  considered  the  most 
simple  manner,  that  is,  in  an  erect  position  with  reference 
to  the  sun,  the  effect  would  be,  that  he  would  constantly 
shine  with  his  direct  rays  only  on  that  single  line  of  the 
earth's  surface  which  is  called  the  equator.  There  would 
still  be  no  change  of  seasons,  and  the  accumulated  heat 
in  the  equatorial  regions  would  be  so  excessive,  as  to 
destroy,  in  all  probability,  both  animal  and  vegetable 

*  The  extended  line  through  the  centre  of  the  globe,  on  which  it 
turns,  is  called  the  axis  of  the  earth, — taking  the  metaphor  from  the  axis 
of  a  carriage  wheel. 

2* 


18  GLOBULAR  FIGURE    OF  THE   EARTH. 

life  ;  while,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  polar  circle,  and 
even  in  a  vast  extent  of  those  countries  to  which  we 
now  give  the  name  of  temperate,  the  globe  would  be 
uninhabitable,  from  the  contrary  cause  of  extreme  and 
uniform  cold. 

The  contrivance,  by  which  this  inconvenience  is,  to 
a  desirable  extent,  removed,  is  well  known.  The  earth, 
which,  in  common  with  the  other  planets,  performs  an 
annual  revolution  round  the  sun,  is  made  to  take  this 
course,  not  in  an  erect,  but  in  an  inclined  position  ;  by 
which  means  the  pole,  which  leant  toward  the  sun  in  one 
part  of  the  course,  leans  away  from  it  in  another.  The 
consequence  of  this  is,  that  the  sun,  instead  of  shining 
constantly  with  his  direct  rays  upon  the  equator,  appears 
to  be  continually  traversing  a  considerable  space  in  the 
heavens,  shifting  from  tropic  to  tropic,  and  presenting 
himself  for  one  half  of  the  year  to  the  north,  and  for  the 
other  half  to  the  south  of  the  equator.  The  various  parts 
of  the  earth's  surface,  within  the  tropics,  are  thus  exposed 
alternately  to  the  direct  and  indirect  rays  of  the  sun  at 
different  periods,  and  the  position  and  influence  of  this 
source  of  light  and  heat,  is  also  varied  over  the  whole 
globe,  or,  in  common  language,  the  diversified  appear- 
ances of  the  seasons  are  produced. 

This  is  a  most  beneficial  arrangement ;  but  it  is  evident 
that  it  could  only  be  salutary  within  a  certain  range,  for 
this  simple  reason,  that,  were  the  sun  to  traverse  from 
pole  to  pole,  it  would  necessarily  happen,  that,  while  he 
was  shining  vertically  on  the  south  pole,  the  north  would 
be  left  to  total  darkness,  and  the  tenfold  rigors  of  a  polar 
winter  ;  and,  vice  versa,  while  he  was  pouring  the  un- 
mitigated radiance  of  his  burning  rays  on  the  regions  of 
the  north,  the  south  would  be  doomed  to  undergo  the 
extreme,  which,  a  few  months  before,  had  carried  desola- 
tion to  the  north.  The  fatal  consequences  of  this, need 
not  be  described  ;  the  whole  balance  of  nature,  at  present 
so  nicely  adjusted,  would  be  upset,  the  elements  would 
be  in  constant  and  furious  commotion,  and  no  organized 
existence,  such,  at  least,  as  is  at  present  to  be  found  on 
the  earth,  could  survive  the  conflict ;  or,  if  it  did,  could 


CIRCULATION  IN  THE  ATMOSPHERE.  19 

endure  the  violent  changes  of  the  seasons,  for  a  single 
year. 

It  would  be  by  no  means  difficult  to  prove,  that  the 
extent,  to  which  the  range  of  the  sun  is  actually  confined, 
is  precisely  that,  which  manifests  the  most  consummate 
intelligence  in  the  great  Artificer.  Had  it  been  either 
more  or  less  than  we  actually  find  it,  the  same  advantages 
would  not  have  been  secured,  other  things  remaining  as 
they  are,  nor  would  inconveniences  have  been  so  effect- 
ually avoided.  Evils,  indeed,  still  remain  ;  it  is  part  of 
the  system  of  a  world  of  discipline  that  it  should  be  so, — 
but  the  proof  of  Divine  contrivance  lies  in  this,  that  these 
evils  are  at  the  minimum,  [or  lowest  point,]  while  the 
advantages,  on  the  contrary,  are  at  the  maximum,  [or 
highest  point ;]  that  is  to  say,  that  any  alteration  either 
way  would  be  for  the  worse.  Here,  then,  we  have, 
what  we  are  taught  to  look  for  by  the  general  analogy  of 
nature, — a  proof  of  supreme  wisdom  in  the  adjustment 
of  materials, — the  adaptation  of  means  with  admirable 
skill  to  a  beneficent  end. 


FIRST  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

CIRCULATION  IN  THE  ATMOSPHERE  AND  OCEAN. 

WE  have  mentioned  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis 
to  the  plane  of  its  annual  orbit,  as  the  cause  of  the  variety 
of  seasons  on  its  surface  ;  but  there  are  other  beneficial 
arrangements  which  concur  with,  and  are  influenced  by 
this,  and  without  which  it  would  but  imperfectly  secure 
what  is  obviously  the  main  design  of  the  Creator,  namely, 
the  furnishing  of  an  extensive  and  varied  surface,  fit  for 
the  habitation  of  living  creatures,  and  especially  of  man, 
the  only  creature  endowed  with  the  higher  attributes 
of  reason,  and  therefore  a  subject  of  moral  discipline. 
Among  these  arrangements  we  shall,  in  the  present  paper, 


20  CIRCULATION  IN  THE 

only  allude  to  the  circulation  established  in  the  fluid  ele- 
ments which  surround  our  globe. 

The  expansion  of  fluid  substances  by  heat,  and  their 
contraction,  within  certain  bounds,  by  cold,  is  a  univer- 
sal law  of  Nature.  Now,  this  law,  has  an  obvious  ten- 
dency to  create  circulation.  The  fluid  becoming  lighter 
by  being  expanded,  and  heavier  when  contracted,  rises 
towards  the  surface,  or  falls  towards  the  bottom,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  partial  application  of  heat  or  cold,  and  thus 
tends  to  diffuse  an  equable  temperature  through  the 
whole  mass.  But  this  principle  has  also  another  effect, 
which  we  have  more  immediately  in  view.  When  the 
fluid  expands,  it  occupies  a  greater  space,  and  must 
therefore  displace  some  of  the  mass  with  which  it  is  sur- 
rounded ;  when  it  is  contracted,  the  contrary  effect  fol- 
lows,— its  diminished  bulk  is  supplied  by  the  rushing  in 
of  the  contiguous  fluid.  In  either  case,  a  current  is  cre- 
ated. 

In  regarding  the  effects  thus  produced  on  the  atmos- 
phere, it  is  scarcely  possible  not  to  recognise  the  impress 
of  wisdom  and  goodness.  It  is  to  this  cause,  operating 
on  the  combined  air  and  vapor,  that  we  owe  alternate 
clouds  and  sunshine,  winds  and  calms,  drought,  moisture, 
and  rain, — every  thing,  in  short,  that  we  call  weather, — 
the  changes  of  which  are  so  essential  to  the  fertility  of 
the  earth  and  salubrity  of  the  climate.  But,  in  the  midst 
of  these  alternations,  there  is  another  and  more  exten- 
sive operation  constantly  going  on.  The  atmosphere, 
heated  and  expanded  at  the  equator,  is  continually  flow- 
ing in  the  upper  regions  towards  the  poles,  where,  being 
cooled  and  contracted,  it  acquires  a  retrograde  motion, 
and  flows  back  in  a  perpetual  under-current  towards  the 
equator.  This,  at  least,  is  its  general  bias,  happily  modi- 
fied, however,  by  various  circumstances  and  disturbing 
forces,  which  retard,  divert,  and  mingle  the  opposing 
currents  ;  and  while  they  reduce  the  temperature  of  the 
one,  increase  that  of  the  other.  This,  then,  is  one  of 
those  providential  contrivances  by  which  the  fervid  heat 
of  the  torrid  zone  is  alleviated,  and  the  excessive  rigor 
of  the  polar  regions  is  subdued,  while  the  intervening 


ATMOSPHERE  AND   OCEAN.  21 

temperate  climates  are  rendered  more  salubrious,  and  the 
wide  extent  of  earth  is  prepared  for  the  comfortable  sus- 
tenance of  animal  life. 

A  similar  effect  is  produced  by  the  movements  of  the 
ocean.  The  expanded  waters  of  the  equatorial  circle 
rush  towards  the  poles,  carrying  with  them  some  of  the 
warmth  of  those  burning  regions,  which  they  perpetually 
pour  into  the  atmosphere  of  the  temperate  and  frigid  di- 
visions of  the  earth ;  while  the  chilled  and  contracted 
waters  of  the  extreme  north  and  south,  throw  back  their 
currents  upon  the  tropics,  and  thus,  in  their  turn,  modify 
the  temperature  in  these  latter  climates.  In  our  own 
quarter  of  the  globe,  we  observe  this  effect  exemplified 
in  what  is  called  the  Gulf-stream  of  the  Atlantic,  which 
is  a  perpetual  current, — occasioned  partly  by  the  law  al- 
ready alluded  to,  and  partly  by  the  form  of  the  African 
and  American  coasts, — running  from  the  northern  shore 
of  South  America,  where  the  heat  is  at  its  maximum, 
along  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  sweeping  across 
from  Newfoundland  to  the  Icy  Sea,  enveloping  the  Brit- 
ish islands,  and  thence  returning  along  the  shores  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Africa,  till  it  completes  its  circuit  by 
again  reaching  the  southern  continent  of  America  and  the 
Western  Indies. 

"Great  as  the  difference  of  temperature  is,in  different 
climates,"  says  Whewell,  "it  would  be  still  greater  if 
there  were  not  this  equalizing  and  moderating  power 
exerted  constantly  over  the  whole  surface.  '  Without 
this  influence,  it  is  probable  that  the  two  polar  portions 
of  the  earth,  which  are  locked  in  perpetual  snow  and 
ice,  and  almost  destitute  of  life,  would  be  much  in- 
creased." 

It  thus  appears,  that  there  is  a  constant  circulation  go- 
ing on  in  the  two  great  fluids  of  air  and  water,  analogous 
in  some  degree, to  that  of  blood  through  the  living  body, 
and  productive  of  the  most  beneficial  effects.  The  man- 
ner in  which  these  are  attempered  and  combined  is  truly 
wonderful,  and  has  been  the  subject  of  philosophical  in- 
vestigation. In  regard  to  the  air,  Mr.  Whewell  has 
shown  in  what  manner  its  composition  and  laws  are  ad- 


22  THE  ATMOSPHERE. 

justed,  so  as  to  correspond  with,  or  to  counteract  and 
regulate,  the  different  and  sometimes  antagonist  laws  of 
the  vapor,  which  constantly  circulates  through  it,  and  to 
produce  the  most  salutary  effects.  This  is  a  question 
on  which  I  cannot  fully  enter ;  but  a  few  observations 
on  the  subject  of  weather,  with  which  it  is  connected, 
will  occupy  our  attention  to-morrow. 


FIRST  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE    ATMOSPHERE. 

FROM  the  expansive  power  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the 
irregular  distribution  of  heat  and  cold,  combined  with 
the  inequalities  on  the  earth's  surface,  arise  those  storms 
and  tempests  which  form  one  of  the  most  forbidding  fea- 
tures in  the  aspect  of  Winter.  This  maybe  regarded  as 
an  evil;  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  such  elemental 
commotions  are  sometimes  attended  with  very  disastrous 
consequences.  When  the  tremendous  powers  of  nature 
are  in  motion,  indeed,  we  might  well  tremble  and  despair, 
did  we  not  know  that  they  are  under  the  guidance  of  In- 
finite Perfection.  In  rare  instances,  at  long  .intervals, 
and  in  limited  spots,  we  are  permitted  to  witness  proofs 
of  the  desolation  which  the  uncontrolled  elements  might 
produce,  that  by  the  contrast  we  may  be  more  deeply 
affected  with  a  sense  of  the  paternal  care  under  which 
we  daily  live.  We  have  heard,  of  hurricanes  and  torna- 
does sweeping  whole  districts  with  the  besom  of  destruc- 
tion,— of  the  sirocco  and  simoom  carrying  instant  death 
on  their  poisoned  wings, — of  mountain  torrents  and  swel- 
ling seas  bursting  their  ancient  boundaries,  and  bearing 
wide  desolation  in  their  raging  waters, — of  thunder  rend- 
ing the  heavens,  and  bolts  of  fire  scathing  the  earth, — of 
earthquakes  swallowing  up  whole  cities,  or  volcanoes 
overwhelming  them  with  floods  of  lava.  But  these  are 


THE   ATMOSPHERE.  23 

only  the  infrequent  exceptions  to  a  general  rule,  which 
has  order  and  happiness  for  its  object,  teaching  us  at 
once  a  lesson  of  humility  and  gratitude. 

If  we  turn  from  this  view  of  what  might  be  the  uni- 
versal state  of  nature,  to  real  events  as  they  occur  under 
our  own  eye,  and  are  the  subject  of  daily  experience,  we 
shall  have  abundant  cause  to  acknowledge  the  presence 
of  an  overruling  hand.  How  seldom  do  we  actually  ob- 
serve any  extensive  desolation  produced  by  a  winter 
storm.  "  All  the  changes  of  the  weather,"  Mr.  Whewell 
well  observes,  "even  the  most  violent  tempests  and  tor- 
rents of  rain,  may  be  considered  as  oscillations  about  the 
mean  or  average  condition  belonging  to  each  place.  All 
these  oscillations  are  limited  and  transient;  the  storm 
spends  its  fury,  the  inundation  passes  off,  the  sky  clears, 
the  calmer  course  of  nature  succeeds.  In  the  forces 
which  produce  this  derangement,  there  is  a  provision  for 
making  it  short  and  moderate.  The  oscillation  stops  of 
itself,  like  the  rolling  of  a  ship  when  no  longer  impelled 
by  the  wind.  Now,  why  should  this  be  so  ?  Why 
should  the  oscillations,  produced  by  the  conflict  of  so 
many  laws,  seemingly  quite  unconnected  with  each  other, 
be  of  this  converging  and  subsiding  character  ?  Is  it  a 
matter  of  mechanical  necessity,  that  disturbance  must 
end  in  the  restoration  of  the  medium  condition  ?  By  no 
means.  There  may  be  an  utter  subversion  of  the  equi- 
librium, the  ship  may  roll  too  far,  and  may  capsize. 
The  oscillations  may  go  on,  becoming  larger  and  larger, 
till  all  trace  of  the  original  condition  is  lost ;  till  new 
forces  of  inequality  and  disturbance  are  brought  into 
play  ;  and  disorder  and  irregularity  may  succeed,  without 
apparent  limit  or  check  in  its  own  nature,  like  the  spread 
of  a  conflagration  in  a  city.  This  is  a  possibility  in  any 
combination  of  mechanical  forces.  Why  does  it  not 
happen  in  the  one  before  us  ?  By  what  good  fortune 
are  the  powers  of  heat,  of  water,  of  steam,  of  air,  the 
effects  of  the  earth's  annual  and  diurnal  motions,  and 
probably  other  causes,  so  adjusted,  that,  through  all  their 
struggles,  the  elemental  world  goes  on,  upon  the  whole, 
so  quietly  and  steadily  ?  Why  is  the  whole  fabric  of 


24  THE  ATMOSPHERE. 

the  weather  never  utterly  deranged,  its  balance  lost  irre- 
coverably ?" 

The  complicated  nature  of  the  elements,  which  enter 
into  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere,  renders  it  diffi- 
cult, perhaps  impossible,  to  give  a  distinct  answer  to 
these  interesting  questions,  by  pointing  to  the  precise 
law  which  regulates  and  controls  these  elements.  Mr. 
Whewell  refers  to  the  very  peculiar  adjustments  which 
were  requisite,  and  are  actually  discoverable,  in  the  com- 
paratively simple  problem  of  the  solar  system,  by  which 
its  motions  have  their  cycles,  and  its  perturbations  their 
limits  and  period  ;  and,  from  this  analogy,  he  conjectures, 
with  much  probability,  that  could  the  investigation  be 
followed  out,  it  would  land  us  in  a  similar  result.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  mark 
of  the  interference  of  an  intelligent  and  beneficent  mind, 
that  the  intensity  of  those  tremendous  forces  which  are 
employed  in  our  atmosphere  should  be  so  adjusted,  as 
not  only  to  preserve  the  permanence  of  the  system,  but 
also  to  be  adapted  to  the  existence  and  comfort  of  the 
animal  creation. 

In  adverting  to  the  general  properties  of  that  wonder- 
ful fluid  which  envelopes  our  globe  as  with  a  mantle,  the 
distinguished  philosopher  from  whom  we  have  already 
quoted,  makes  the  beautiful  observations,  with  which  we 
close  this  paper. 

"If  the  atmosphere  be  considered  as  a  vast  machine, 
it  is  difficult  to  form  any  just  conception  of  the  profound 
skill  and  comprehensiveness  of  design  which  it  displays. 
It  diffuses  and  tempers  the  heat  of  different  climates  ; 
for  this  purpose  it  performs  a  circulation  occupying  the 
whole  range  from  the  pole  to  the  equator ;  and,  while  it 
is  doing  this,  it  executes  many  smaller  circuits  between 
the  sea  and  the  land.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  the  means 
of  forming  clouds  and  rain ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  a  per- 
petual circulation  of  the  watery  part  of  the  atmosphere 
goes  on  between  its  lower  and  upper  regions.  Besides 
this  complication  of  circuits,  it  exercises  a  more  irregular 
agency  in  the  occasional  winds  which  blow  from  all 
quarters,  tending  perpetually  to  restore  the  equilibrium 


IGNIS   FATUUS.  25 

of  heat  and  moisture.  But  this  incessant  and  multiplied 
activity  discharges  only  a  part  of  the  functions  of  the 
air.  It  is,  moreover,  the  most  important  and  universal 
material  of  the  growth  and  sustenance  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals ;  and  is, for  this  purpose,  every  where  present,  and 
almost  uniform  in  its  quantity.  With  all  its  local  motion, 
it  has  also  the  office  of  a  medium  of  communication 
between  intelligent  creatures,  which  office  it  performs  by 
another  set  of  motions,  entirely  different  both  from  the 
circulation  and  occasional  movements  already  mentioned  ; 
these  different  kinds  of  motions  not  interfering  materially 
with  each  other  ;  and  this  last  purpose,  so  remote  from 
the  others  in  its  nature,  it  answers  in  a  manner  so  per- 
fect and  so  easy,  that  we  cannot  imagine  that  the  object 
could  have  been  more  completely  attained,  if  this  had 
been  the  sole  purpose  for  which  the  atmosphere  had 
been  created.  With  all  these  qualities,  this  extraordinary 
part  of  our  terrestrial  system  is  scarcely  ever  in  the  way  ; 
and  when  we  have  occasion  to  do  so,  we  put  forth  our 
hand  and  push  it  aside,  without  being  aware  of  its  being 
near  us." 


FIRST  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

IGNIS   FATUUS,    OR   WILDFIRE. 

ONE  of  the  curious  atmospheric  phenomena  of  winter, 
the  nature  of  which  is  not  well  understood,  and  still  less 
its  use  in  the  economy  of  Providence,  is  that  shining 
vapor  which  generally  makes  its  appearance  in  moist 
weather,  in  marshy  ground,  known  to  the  Romans  by 
the  name  of  ignis  fatuus,  and  called,  at  this  day,  *  Will-o7- 
the-Wisp,' — '  Jack- with- the-lantern,'  and  a  variety  of 
other  names,  all  of  them  indicating  the  superstitious  feel- 
ing with  which  it  is  associated  in  the  minds  of  the  vulgar. 
This  paper  shall  be  chiefly  occupied  with  some  accounts 
i.  3  vn. 


26  IGNIS   FATUUS, 

that  have  been  published  of  the  various  appearances 
which  the  phenomenon  assumes.  The  first  I  shall  quote, 
is  that  of  a  writer  in  a  public  journal,  who  subscribes 
himself  4A  Farmer,'  and  expresses  himself  with  such 
amusing  simplicity,  in  describing  some  of  the  ordinary 
vagaries  of  this  reputed  sprite,  that  the  homeliness  of 
the  style  requires  no  apology. 

"  I  was  riding  through  a  wet  boggy  part  of  the  road, 
that  lies  between  my  house  and  the  mill,  when  a  little 
sleety  shower,  with  a  strong  blast  of  wind,  came  sud- 
denly upon  rne,  and  made  it  so  very  dark,  that  I  could 
scarcely  see  my  old  mare's  white  head.  I  began  to  con- 
sider with  myself,  whether  it  would  be  better  to  turn 
my  back  to  the  storm,  and  wait  till  it  was  past,  or  take 
my  chance  of  letting  my  horse  find  its  own  way,  when  I 
saw  something  bright,  dancing  in  the  air  before  me.  You 
may  be  sure  I  was  startled  a  little  at  this ;  for  the  rain 
was  pouring  so  fast,  and  the  wind  was  blowing  so  strong, 
that  no  ordinary  fire  could  stand  it ;  so  I  whipt  up  my 
horse  to  get  out  of  the  way  as  fast  as  I  could  ;  but  to  go 
fast  was  out  of  the  question,  with  such  an  old  mare,  such 
a  bad  road,  and  so  heavy  a  burden  ;  and,  besides,  I  soon 
found  that  it  served  me  in  no  stead,  for  the  light  still 
kept  waving  before  my  eyes  ;  so  I  thought  it  would  be 
best  to  go  slowly,  and  try  if  I  could  find  out  what  it  was. 

"You  may  think  how  surprised  I  was,  when  I  dis- 
covered, that  the  top  of  my  whiplash  was  all  in  a  flame. 
I  had  at  first  almost  thrown  it  out  of  my  hand  in  my 
fright  ;  but,  on  second  thoughts,  I  did  not  like  to  do  that, 
for  fear  of  losing  it,  as  it  was  nearly  new,  and  a  present 
from  my  uncle  John.  I  therefore  whisked  it  about  in 
rny  hand,  and  whipped  my  horse  with  it,  thinking  to  make 
the  flame  go  out  ;  but,  though  it  turned  dim  for  a  few 
minutes,  it  soon  became  brighter  than  ever.  Just  at  this 
time,  I  heard  the  sound  of  a  foot  before  me  ;  and,  when 
I  looked,  I  saw  very  distinctly  the  marks  of  footsteps 
all  on  fire,  close  beside  me  ;  but  it  was  so  dark,  I  could 
not  see  whether  any  person  was  there  or  not.  Soon 
afterward,  I  got  upon  better  road,  and  my  poor  mare, 
who  was  herself  frightened,  jogged  faster  on  ;  so  I  saw 


OR  WILDFIRE.  27 

no  more  of  it.  I  am  happy  to  tell  you,  that  I  got  home 
without  a  broken  neck,  and  found  all  well  there,  which 
was  more  than  I  expected  ;  for  I  verily  believed  it  was 
a  dead  light,  or  an  elf  candle,  or  some  other  bad  omen."* 

M.  Boccari  mentions,  that  a  light  of  this  kind  ap- 
peared to  a  gentleman  of  his  acquaintance,  as  he  was 
travelling  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bologna,  in  Italy,  where 
it  is  very  common.  It  moved  constantly  before  him  for 
about  a  mile,  and  gave  a  better  light  than  a  torch  that 
was  carried  by  his  servant.  Sometimes  it  rose,and  some- 
times sunk,  but  hovered  commonly  about  six  feet  from 
the  ground.  Sometimes  it  appeared  like  waves,  and,  at 
other  times,  seemed  to  drop  sparks  of  fire.  It  was  little 
affected  by  the  wind  ;  but,  during  a  shower  of  rain,  it 
became  brighter. 

A  very  remarkable  account  of  a  will-o'-the-wisp,  is  given 
by  Dr.  Shaw,  in  his  Travels  in  the  Holy  Land.  It  ap- 
peared in  one  of  the  valleys  of  Mount  Ephraim,  and  at- 
tended him  and  his  company  for  more  than  an  hour. 
Sometimes  it  would  seem  globular,  or  in  the  shape  of 
the  flame  of  a  candle.  At  other  times,  it  would  spread 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  involve  the  whole  company  in  a 
pale  inoffensive  light,  then  contract  itself,  and  suddenly 
disappear  ;  but,  in  less  than  a  minute,  would  appear 
again.  Sometimes,  running  swiftly  along,  it  would  ex- 
pand itself,  at  certain  intervals,  over  more  than  two  or 
three  acres  of  the  adjacent  mountains.  The  atmosphere, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  evening,  had  been  remarkably 
thick  and  hazy  ;  and  the  dew,  as  they  felt  it  on  the 
bridles  of  their  horses,  was  clammy  and  unctuous. 

In  the  Appendix  to  Dr.  Priestley's  third  volume  of  Ex- 
periments and  Observations  on  Air,  M.  Waltire  gives  an 
account  of  some  very  remarkable  ignes  fatui  which  he 
observed,  about  five  miles  from  Birmingham,  on  the  12th 
December,  1776,  before  daylight  in  the  morning.  A 
great  many  of  these  lights  were  playing  in  a  neighboring 
field,  in  different  directions  ;  from  some  of  which, there 
suddenly  sprang  up  bright  branches  of  light,  something 

*  Dumfries  Courier,  20th  December,  1809. 


23  IGNIS   FATUUS, 

resembling  the  explosion  of  a  rocket,  that  contained 
many  brilliant  stars  ;  and  the  hedge,  with  the  trees  on 
each  side  of  the  hedge,  was  illuminated.  This  appear- 
ance continued  but  a  few  seconds,  and  then  the  will- 
o'-the-wisps  played  as  before.  M.  Waltire  was  not  near 
enough  to  observe  if  the  apparent  explosions  were  attend- 
ed by  any  report. 

From  these  and  other  facts  which  have  been  recorded, 
and  indeed  from  the  familiar  occurrences  of  the  winter 
months,  it  appears, that  the  ignis  fatuus  belongs  to  a  class 
of  phenomena  which  prove  that  light  and  heat,  though  so 
intimately  connected,  may  exist  separately  ;  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  that  the  peculiar  substance,  whatever  it 
may  be,  in  which  these  qualities  inhere,  contains  some- 
times the  one  in  a  latent  state,  and  sometimes  the  other. 
This, is  only  another  remarkable  property  of  that  most 
wonderful  substance  which  seems  to  pervade  universal 
nature,  and  to  combine  the  various  phenomena  of  elec- 
tricity, of  galvanism,  and  probably  also  of  magnetism,  along 
with  those  of  light  and  heat,  sometimes  in  a  quiescent, 
and  sometimes  in  a  highly  active  state. 

The  phenomena  of  light  without  heat,  are  not  so  fre- 
quently the  subject  of  observation  as  those  of  heat  with- 
out light ;  but  various  wellknown,  and  indeed  familiar, 
instances  of  the  latter  do  occur.  Of  this  kind  is  the 
light  of  the  glowworm  ;  of  fire-flies  ;  of  the  Medusa  tribe, 
which  are  diffused  so  plentifully  over  the  surface  of  the 
sea,  in  tropical  regions  ;  of  other  marine  productions  ;  of 
the  scales  of  fish  ;  and  of  animal  and  vegetable  substances 
in  the  process  of  putrefaction.  Nor  must  we  forget  the 
beams  of  the  moon,  which,  so  far  from  exhibiting  the 
presence  of  heat,  are  even  said  by  some  to  be  slightly 
chilling. 

An  attempt,  more  ingenious,  I  think,  than  successful, 
has  been  made  to  connect  the  light  of  the  ignis  fatuus 
with  the  phenomena  of  falling  stars,  which  may  be  shortly 
stated.  It  is  supposed,  that  some  phosphoric  fluid,  aris- 
ing from  the  decomposition  of  animal  or  vegetable  sub- 
stances, passes  into  the  atmosphere,  and  continues  to 
float  there,  without  mixing  with  the  atmosphere  itself; 


OR  WILDFIRE.  29 

that  this  fluid,  when  it  appears  in  the  form  of  a  will-o'-the- 
wisp,  becomes  ignited,  by  some  means,  near  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  at  a  certain  point  ;  and  that  this  ignition 
communicates  itself  successively  to  other  portions  of  the 
same  fluid,  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  occasioning 
that  apparently  capricious  flitting  from  place  to  place, 
for  which  this  meteor  is  remarkable;  and, it  is  further 
supposed,  that  other  portions  of  a  similar  fluid  pass,  un- 
illuminated,  to  the  higher  regions  of  the  air,  in  a  con- 
tinued column,  till  they  ascend  above  the  region  of  the 
clouds,  where,  from  some  chemical  cause,  the  upper  part 
of  the  column  takes  fire,  and  the  ignition  is  carried  back- 
ward to  the  portions  with  which  it  is  in  connexion. 
Such  is  the  hypothesis  ;  and  it  might  certainly  account 
for  some  of  the  appearances  ;  but  it  is  quite  inadequate 
to  the  explanation  of  others  ;  and,  as  to  the  phenomena 
of  falling  stars,  recent  discoveries  have  suggested  views 
on  that  subject,  of  a  nature  far  more  extensive  and  sub- 
lime. 

In  the  next  paper  for  Monday,  I  shall  advert  more 
particularly  to  some  phosphorescent  appearances  which 
seem  to  resemble  those  of  the  ignis  fatum,  and  which 
may  perhaps  ultimately  assist  in  discovering  the  natural 
cause  of  the  phenomenon  ;  and  in  the  mean  time,  with- 
out attempting  to  explain  it,  I  shall  merely  say,  that,  what- 
ever may  be  its  own  sphere  of  utility,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
it  is  connected  with  a  principle  which  abundantly  exhibits 
the  perfections  of  the  great  Creator. 

We  conclude  this  account  with  a  beautiful  description 
of  these  appearances,  extracted  from  the  c  British  Geor- 
gics,'  a  work  of  the  amiable  author  of  '  The  Sabbath.' 

**  Sometimes  November  nights  are  thick  hedimmed 
With  hazy  vapors  floating  o'er  the  ground, 
Or  veiling  from  the  view  the  starry  host ; 
At  such  a  time,  on  plashy  mead  or  fen 
A  faintish  light  is  seen,  by  southern  swains 
Called  Will-o'-Wisp  ;  sometimes  from  rushy  bush 
To  bush  it  leaps,  or,  cross  a  little  rill, 
Dances  from  side  to  side  in  winding  race. 
Sometimes  with  stationary  blaze  it  gilds 
The  heifer's  horns  ;  or  plays  upon  the  mane 

3* 


30  GENERAL  ASPECT   OF  WINTER. 

Of  farmer's  horse  returning  from  the  fair, 
And  lights  him  on  his  way,  yet  often  proves 
A  treacherous  guide,  misleading  from  the  path 
To  faithless  bogs,  and  solid  seeming  ways. 
Sometimes  it  haunts  the  churchyard,  up  and  down 
The  tombstones'  spiky  rail  streaming,  it  shows 
Faint  glimpses  of  the  rustic  sculptor's  art, 
Time's  scythe  and  hour-glass,  and  the  grinning  skull 
And  bones  transverse,  which,  at  an  hour  like  this, 
To  him,  who  passing,  casts  athwart  the  wall 
A  fearful  glance,  speak  with  a  warning  knell." 


SECOND  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

GENERAL  ASPECT  OP   WINTER. 

THE  general  aspect  of  winter  is  forbidding.  It  is  the 
night  of  the  year  ;  the  period  when,  under  a  mitigated 
light,  nature  reposes,  after  the  active  exertions  of  spring 
and  summer  have  been  crowned  with  the  rich  stores  of 
autumn.  We  now  no  longer  survey  with  admiration 
and  delight  those  wonders  of  creative  power,  which  ar- 
rested our  attention,  in  that  youthful  season  when  herbs, 
plants,  and  trees  awoke  from  their  long  sleep  and  started 
into  new  life,  under  the  kindly  influences  of  warmer  suns 
and  gentler  breezes  ;  and  when  the  feathered  tribes  made 
the  fresh-clothed  woods  and  lawns,  and  the  blue  sky  it- 
self, vocal  with  the  music  of  love  and  joy.  Nor  do  we 
now  expatiate  in  the  maturer  beauties  of  summer,  when 
light  and  heat  flushed  the  glowing  heavens  and  smiling 
earth,  and  when  the  clouds  distilled  their  grateful  show- 
ers, or  tempered  the  intense  radiance  by  their  flitting 
shade.  And  mellow  autumn,  too,  has  passed  away,  along 
with  the  merry  song  of  the  reapers,  and  the  hum  of  busy 
men,  gathering  their  stores  from  the  teeming  fields. 

Instead  of  these  genial  influences  of  heaven,  our  length- 
ening nights,  and  our  days,  becoming  perpetually  darker 
and  shorter,  shed  their  gloom  over  the  face  of  nature  ; 


GENERAL  ASPECT  OF  WINTER.  31 

the  earth  grows  niggardly  of  her  supplies  of  nourishment 
and  shelter,  and  no  longer  spreads  beneath  the  tenants 
of  the  field  the  soft  green  carpet  on  which  they  were  ac- 
customed to  repose  ;  man  seeks  .his  artificial  comforts 
and  his  hoarded  food ;  the  wind  whistles  ominously 
through  the  naked  trees  ;  the  dark  clouds  lower  ;  the 
chilling  rain  descends  in  torrents  ;  and,  as  the  season 
advances,  the  earth  becomes  rigid,  as  if  struck  by  the 
wand  of  an  enchanter  ;  the  waters,  spell-bound,  lie  mo- 
tionless in  crystal  chains  ;  the  north  pours  forth  its  blast, 
and  nature  is  entombed  in  a  vast  cemetery,  whiter  and 
colder  than  Parian  marble. 

Yet,  even  in  this  apparently  frightful  and  inhospitable 
season,  there  are  means  of  pleasure  and  improvement, 
which  render  it  scarcely  inferior  to  any  other  period  of 
the  revolving  year  ;  while  proofs  of  the  power,  wisdom, 
and  goodness  of  the  great  Creator  are  not  less  abundantly 
displayed  to  the  mind  of  the  pious  inquirer.  With  re- 
ference to  the  angry  passions  of  the  human  race,  it  is  said 
that  God  causes  "  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him,"  and 
restrains  "  the  remainder  of  wrath  ;"  and  a  similar  remark 
applies,  with  a  truth  equally  striking,  to  the  troubled  ele- 
ments. The  Almighty  sets  bounds  to  the  raging  ocean, 
saying,  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further,  and 
here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed."  He  regulates 
by  his  wisdom  the  intensity  of  the  tempest,  "staying  his 
rough  wind  in  the  day  of  the  east  wind."  All  the  active 
powers  of  nature  are  his  messengers  :  u  Fire  and  hail, 
snow  and  vapor,"  as  well  as  "stormy  winds,  fulfil  his 
word. "  Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  more  worthy  of  admira- 
tion than  the  manner  in  which  the  rigors  of  winter  are 
tempered,  so  as  to  contribute  to  the  subsistence  and  com- 
fort of  living  beings. 

It  is  true  that,  even  in  the  ordinary  occurrences  of 
life,  there  are,  in  winter,  probably  more  distressing  and 
fatal  incidents  than  during  the  other  quarters  of  the  year. 
A  snow-storm  may  sometimes  overwhelm  a  shepherd 
and  his  flock  ;  a  tempest  may  cause  a  gallant  vessel  and 
its  crew  to  perish  ;  a  fire  may  lay  a  village  in  ashes  ; 
disease,  attendant  on  exposure  to  a  rigorous  climate,  may 


32          GENERAL  ASPECT  OF  WINTER. 

invade  the  unwholesome  and  comfortless  huts  of  the  poor ; 
or,  in  a  season  when  the  wages  of  agricultural  labor  cease 
along  with  the  power  of  working  in  the  open  air,  famine 
may  emaciate  and  destroy  whole  families  ;  but  such  events 
as  these,  melancholy  as  they  are,  must  be  ranked  among 
the  common  evils  of  life,  and  belong  to  a  class,  marking 
a  peculiar  feature  in  the  government  of  this  world,  to 
which  I  have  previously  adverted,  and  which  can  never 
be  far  from  the  mind  of  the  accurate  observer  of  nature. 
At  present, let  us  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the  other  side  of 
the  picture,  and  we  shall  see  enough  to  prove,  that,  even 
in  these  gloomy  months,  the  paternal  care  of  an  all-wise 
and  beneficent  Governor  is  not  less  conspicuous  than  in 
other  periods  of  the  year. 

If  we  look  at  the  lower  animals,  how  wonderful  are 
the  kind  provisions  of  Providence.  Among  the  numer- 
ous tribes  of  insects,  reptiles,  birds,  and  quadrupeds, 
there  appears  to  be  a  general  presentiment  of  the  coming 
desolation.  Some,  impelled  by  a  wonderful  instinct, 
provide  for  themselves  comfortable  retreats,  each  tribe 
adapting  its  accommodation  to  its  peculiar  circumstances, 
burrowing  in  the  earth,  or  boring  beneath  the  bark  of 
trees  and  shrubs,  or  penetrating  into  their  natural  hol- 
lows, or  lodging  in  crevices  of  walls  and  rocks,  or  diving 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  lying  immovable 
at  the  bottom  of  pools,  lakes,  or  marshy  streams.  Here 
they  are  preserved  during  this  barren  period,  either  by 
feeding  on  the  stores,  which,  with  a  foresight  not  their 
own,  they  had  collected  in  the  bountiful  weeks  of  harvest, 
or  by  falling  into  a  deep  sleep,  during  which, they  become 
unassailable  either  by  the  attacks  of  cold  or  of  hunger, 
or  by  issuing  daily  or  nightly  from  their  resting  places, 
and  gathering  the  food  which  a  providential  care  has  re- 
served for  them,  and  taught  them  how  to  seek.  Others, 
chiefly  belonging  to  the  winged  tribes,  are  taught  to  mi- 
grate, as  the  rigors  of  winter  approach,  to  more  genial 
climates,  where  abundant  food  and  enjoyment  are  pro- 
vided for  them,  and  where  they  are  thus  permitted  to 
expatiate  in  all  the  advantages  of  a  perpetual,  yet  varied 
summer  ;  while  these  again  have  their  places  supplied 


PHOSPHORESCENCE.  33 

by  hardier  species  of  the  feathered  family,  which  the 
gathering  storms  of  more  northern  regions  had  warned 
to  leave  their  summer  haunts. 

If  from  the  inferior  animal  creation,  we  turn  to  man, 
the  same  traces  of  a  paternal  hand  are  seen  in  providing 
against,  or  compensating  for,  the  privations  of  winter. 
If  our  natural  instincts  and  defences  are  not  so  numerous 
as  those  of  the  brutes,  reason  and  foresight  amply  supply 
their  place.  Influenced  by  these,  we  build  comfortable 
houses,  of  materials  which  are  every  where  to  be  found, 
and  collect  supplies  of  fuel  from  bogs  and  forests,  or  dig 
them  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  where  they  are  laid 
up  as  in  storehouses  ;  and  we  rear  flocks  and  herds  to 
furnish  us  with  the  means  of  food  and  clothing.  Mean- 
while, necessary  industry  occupies  and  cheers  the  dreary 
season  ;  and  books  or  social  intercourse  improve  and 
exhilarate  the  mind. 

All  these  proofs  of  paternal  care  deserve  and  will  ob- 
tain a  separate  consideration  ;  but  the  simple  mention  of 
them,  is  calculated  to  call  forth  sentiments  of  pious  ad- 
miration and  gratitude.  "  Who  knoweth  not  in  all  these, 
that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  wrought  this." 


SECOND  WEEK— MONDAY. 

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 

THE  meteor  known  by  the  name  of  ignis  fatuus,  is 
connected,  as  I  observed  in  the  paper  of  Saturday,  with 
some  other  luminous  appearances,  by  this  common  pro- 
perty, that  it  gives  out  no  sensible  heat.  Among  other 
animals  which  possess  the  property  of  shining  with  a  cold 
light,  I  mentioned  the  Medusa  class,  which  sometimes 
illuminate  the  whole  surface  of  the  sea,  and,  in  a  dark 
night,  show  like  a  stream  of  liquid  fire  in  the  wake  of  a 
ship.  But,  besides  these,  there  is  a  great  variety  of  the 


34  PHOSPHORESCENCE. 

inhabitants  of  the  ocean,  which  have  it  in  their  power  to 
emit  a  kind  of  phosphoric  light  from  their  bodies  at 
pleasure  ;  and  this  remarkable  property  is  probably  given 
them  by  the  Creator,  to  enable  them  to  pursue  their  prey 
in  the  dark  abysses  of  the  sea,  where  the  beams  of  the 
sun  cannot  penetrate.  Among  shoals  of  herrings  and 
pilchards,  flashes  of  light  have  been  frequently  observed 
to  dart,  so  as  to  cast  a  sudden  brilliancy  across  the  whole  ; 
and  oyster-shells,  as  well  as  a  variety  of  minerals,  have 
become  phosphorescent  at  certain  temperatures.  These 
appearances  have  been  attributed  to  electricity,  which  is 
rendered  probable  by  various  circumstances,  and  seems 
to  be  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  the  electric  shock  causes 
substances  of  the  kind  last  mentioned,  to  exhibit  the 
same  luminous  appearance.  However  this  may  be,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  the  presence  of  the  electric  fluid 
is  not  unfrequently  shown  by  the  production  of  a  harm- 
less light,  similar  to  that  of  the  ignis  fatuus.  Sailors 
are  not  unacquainted  with  this  phenomenon,  which  they 
regard  with  awe,  and  which  is  seen  at  night  in  the  form 
of  a  star,  illuminating  the  topmasts  and  yard-arms,  or 
gliding  along  the  ropes  of  ships.  This  light, the  ancients 
superstitiously  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Castor  and 
Pollux^  considering  it  a  lucky  omen.  Mrs.  Somerville 
mentions,  that,  in  1831,  the  French  officers  at  Algiers 
were  surprised  to  see  brushes  of  light  on  the  heads  of 
their  comrades,  and  at  the  points  of  their  fingers,  when 
they  held  up  their  hands. 

One  of  the  most  striking  appearances  of  this  kind,  which 
occurred  at  sea,  is  thus  graphically  described  by  the 
talented  authoress  above  alluded  to  : — 

"  Captain  Bonnycastle,  coming  up  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  on  the  7th  September,  1826,  was  roused  by 
the  mate  of  the  vessel,  in  great  alarm  from  an  unusual 
appearance.  It  was  a  starlight  night,  when  suddenly 
the  sky  became  overcast,  in  the  direction  of  the  high  land 
of  Cornwallis  county,  and  an  instantaneous  and  intensely 
vivid  light,  resembling  the  Aurora,  shot  out  of  the  hitherto 
gloomy  and  dark  sea,  on  the  lee-bow,  which  wras  so  bril- 
liant, that  it  lighted  every  thing  distinctly,  even  to  the 


PHOSPHORESCENCE.  35 

mast-head.  The  light  spread  over  the  whole  sea,  be- 
tween the  two  shores  ;  and  the  waves,  which  before  had 
been  tranquil,  now  began  to  be  agitated.  Captain  Bonny- 
castle  describes  the  scene  as  that  of  a  blazing  sheet  of 
awful  and  most  brilliant  light.  A  long  and  vivid  line  of 
light,  superior  in  brightness  to  the  parts  of  the  sea  not 
immediately  near  the  vessel,  showed  the  base  of  the  high, 
frowning,  and  dark  land,  abreast.  The  sky  became 
lowering,  and  more  intensely  obscure.  Long  tortuous 
lines  of  light  showed  immense  numbers  of  very  large  fish, 
darting  about,  as  if  in  consternation.  The  spritsail-yard 
and  mizzen-boom  were  lighted  by  the  reflection,  as  if  gas- 
lights had  been  burning  directly  below  them  ;  and,  until 
just  before  daybreak,  at  four  o'clock,  the  most  minute 
objects  were  distinctly  visible.  Day  broke  very  slowly, 
and  the  sun  rose  of  a  fiery  and  threatening  aspect.  Rain 
followed.  Captain  Bonnycastle  caused  a  bucket  of  this 
fiery  water  to  be  drawn  up  :  it  was  one  mass  of  light, 
when  stirred  by  the  hand,  and  not  in  sparks,  as  usual,  but 
in  actual  coruscations.  A  portion  of  the  water  preserved 
its  luminosity  for  seven  nights.  On  the  third  night,  the 
scintillations  of  the  sea  reappeared  ;  this  evening,  the 
sun  went  down  very  singularly,  exhibiting  in  its  descent 
a  double  sun  ;  and,  when  only  a  few  degrees  high,  its 
spherical  figure  changed  into  that  of  a  long  cylinder,  which 
reached  the  horizon.  In  the  night,  the  sea  became 
nearly  as  luminous  as  before  ;  but,  on  the  fifth  night, 
the  appearance  entirely  ceased.  Captain  Bonnycastle 
does  not  think  it  proceeded  from  animalcula,  but  imagines 
it  might  be  some  compound  of  phosphorus,  suddenly 
evolved,  and  dispersed  over  the  surface  of  the  sea  ;  per- 
haps from  the  exuvi*  or  secretions  of  fish  connected 
with  the  oceanic  salts — muriate  of  soda,  and  sulphate 
of  magnesia."* 

Such, are  some  of  the  facts  connected  with  what  has 
been  called  phosphorescence.  I  shall  make  no  attempt 
to  theorize  on  the  subject.  When  science  is  further  ad- 
vanced, it  may  probably  be  found,  that  phosphorescence, 

*  '  Connexion  of  the  Physical  Sciences,'    303,  304. 


36  AURORA  BOREALIS, 

the  ignis  fatuus,  and  other  innoxious  illuminating  sub- 
stances, depend  on  some  common  property,  which  may 
serve  to  illustrate  the  mysterious  subject  of  light  and 
heat,  and  thus  afford  a  further  view  of  the  laws  by  which 
the  Creator  regulates  the  material  world. 


SECOND  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

AURORA  BOREAHS,  OR  NORTHERN  LIGHTS. 

THE  Aurora  Borealis  is  a  phenomenon  probably  elec- 
trical, connected  in  some  way  with  the  magnetic  poles, 
which  sometimes  beautifully  illuminates  our  northern 
sky  during  the  autumnal  and  winter  months.  Its  use  in 
the  system  of  Nature  has  not  been  distinctly  ascertained, 
though  various  conjectures  have  been  formed.  Dr.  Hal- 
ley  supposed, that  the  earth  was  hollow,  having  within  it  a 
magnetical  sphere,  which  corresponded  in  virtue  with  all 
the  magnets  on  the  surface  ;  and  that  the  aurora  was  the 
magnetic  effluvia  rendered  by  some  means  visible,  and 
passing  through  or  beyond  the  atmosphere  from  the  north 
pole  of  the  central  magnet  to  that  of  the  south.  Boccaria 
adopts  a  similar  idea,  but  attributes  the  phenomenon  to 
the  electric  instead  of  the  magnetic  fluid,  which,  indeed, 
is  now  proved  to  be  the  same  thing.  The  fallacy  of  this 
opinion  has,  however,  been  since  shown  by  the  fact,  that 
the  fluid,  whatever  it  is,  darts  upward  toward  the  zenith 
in  the  southern  as  well  as  in  the  northern  hemisphere, 
whereas,  were  there  a  circulation  such  as  has  been  con- 
jectured, the  course  of  the  fluid  would  in  the  south  have 
been  reversed,  descending  from  the  zenith  to  the  horizon. 
The  supposition  of  Dr.  Faraday,  therefore,  is,  that  the 
electric  equilibrium  of  the  earth  is  restored  by  the  aurora 
conveying  the  electricity  from  the  poles  to  the  equator. 

Without  attempting  to  settle  a  point  with  regard  to 
which  sufficient  data  have  not  been  collected,  I  shall 


OR  NORTHERN  LIGHTS.  37 

content  myself  with  describing  some  of  the  remarkable 
appearances  of  this  very  curious  and  interesting  phe- 
nomenon. 

One  circumstance  worthy  of  notice  has  already  been 
stated,  namely,  that  the  aurora  bears  some  reference,  not 
to  the  poles  of  the  earth's  rotation,  but  to  what  have  been 
called  the  magnetic  poles.  It  often  forms  a  kind  of 
stationary  luminous  arch,  of  which  the  magnetic  pole  is 
the  centre,  and  across  this  arch  the  coruscations  are 
rapid,  sudden,  and  frequently  of  various  colors.  Its  his- 
tory is  curious,  no  very  distinct  account  having  been 
recorded  of  its  appearance  in  the  classic  ages  of  the 
world,  though  we  do  hear  of  strange  signs  in  the  sky 
which  seem  to  refer  to  some  celestial  phenomena  of  a 
similar  nature.  [M.  de  Mairan,  in  a  work  on  this  sub- 
ject, published  in  the  year  1754,  gives  a  table  of  all  the 
recorded  Aurora  from  A.  D.  583  to  1751  ;  in  which 
are  numbered  1441  instances,  972  of  which  were  ob- 
served in  the  winter  half  of  the  year,  and  469  in  the  sum- 
mer half.]  Since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
these  appearances  have  been  frequent  but  capricious, 
there  being  intervals  of  several  years,  during  which  they 
have  been  either  intermitted  altogether,  or  have  been  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  attract  little  observation. 

In  the  northern  regions,  the  aurora  appears  with  the 
greatest  brilliancy  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  that  the  in- 
tenseness  increases,  as  might  be  expected,  in  proportion 
to  the  nearness  of  approach  to  the  magnetic  pole.  In 
the  Shetland  Islands,  it  cheers  the  winter  nights  almost 
constantly  during  clear  weather.  Its  phenomena  are 
there  called  the  merry  dancers,  and  are  thus  described ; 
"  They  commonly  appear  at  twilight,  near  the  horizon, 
of  a  dun  color,  approaching  to  yellow ;  sometimes  con- 
tinuing in  that  state  for  several  hours,  without  any  sen- 
sible motion  ;  after  which,  they  break  out  into  streams 
of  stronger  light,  spreading  into  columns,  and  altering 
slowly  into  ten  thousand  different  shapes,  varying  their 
colors  from  all  the  tints  of  yellow  to  the  obscurest  rus- 
set. They  often  cover  the'  whole  hemisphere,  and  then 
make  the  most  brilliant  appearance.  Their  motions,  at 
I.  4  vn. 


38  AURORA  BOREALIS, 

these  times,  are  amazingly  quick,  and  they  astonish  the 
spectator  with  the  rapid  change  of  their  form.  They 
often  put  on  the  color  of  blood,  and  make  a  most  dread- 
ful appearance."* 

The  Aurora  is  said,  in  the  colder  latitudes,  to  be  at- 
tended with  a  peculiar  hissing  noise.  Gmelin  mentions 
this  very  distinctly  and  positively  in  the  interesting  ac- 
count which  he  gives  of  it,  as  it  appears  in  Siberia. 
"These  northern  lights,"  says  he,  "begin  with  single 
bright  pillars,  rising  in  the  north,  and  almost  at  the  same 
time  in  the  northeast,  which,  gradually  increasing,  com- 
prehend a  large  space  of  the  heavens,  rush  about  from 
place  to  place,  with  incredible  velocity,  and  finally  al- 
most, cover  the  whole  sky,  up  to  the  zenith.  The  streams 
are  then  seen  meeting  together  in  the  zenith,  and  produce 
an  appearance  as  if  a  vast  tent  was  expanded  in  the  heav- 
ens, glittering  with  gold,  rubies,  and  sapphires.  A  more 
beautiful  spectacle  cannot  be  painted  ;  but,  whoever 
should  see  such  a  northern  light,  for  the  first  time,  could 
not  behold  it  without  terror  ;  for,  however  fine  the  illu- 
mination may  be,  it  is  attended,  as  I  have  learned  from 
the  relation  of  many  persons,  with  such  a  hissing,  crack- 
ling, and  rushing  noise  throughout  the  air,  as  if  the  largest 
fireworks  were  playing  off.  To  describe  what  they  then 
hear,  they  make  use  of  the  expression  spolochi  chodjat ; 
that  is,  the  raging  host  is  passing.  The  hunters  who 
pursue  the  white  and  blue  foxes,  in  the  confines  of  the 
Icy  Sea,  are  often  overtaken  in  their  course  by  these 
northern  lights.  Their  dogs  are  then  so  much  frightened, 
that  they  will  not  move,  but  lie  obstinately  on  the  ground 
till  the  noise  has  passed.  Commonly  clear  and  calm 
weather  follows  this  kind  of  northern  lights.  I  have 
heard  this  account,  riot  from  one  person  only,  but  con- 
firmed by  the  uniform  testimony  of  many,  who  have 
spent  part  of  several  years  in  these  very  northern  regions, 
and  inhabited  different  countries,  from  the  Yenesei  to 
the  Lena  ;  so  that  no  doubt  of  its  truth  can  remain." 

In  Captain  Franklin's  narrative  of  his  journey  to  the 

*  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Article  Aurora  Borealis. 


OR  NORTHERN  LIGHTS.  39 

Polar  Sea,  there  are  some  scientific  observations  on  the 
phenomena  of  the  Aurora,  which  throw  considerable 
light  on  this  curious  and  interesting  subject.  The  me- 
teor is  usually  conceived  to  have  its  place  very  high 
above  the  earth ;  but  exceedingly  different  elevations 
have  been  assigned  to  it  by  different  philosophers.  Euler 
supposed  it  to  be  some  thousands  of  miles  distant,  others 
have  fixed  its  place  at  a  few  hundred  miles,  and  others 
again  much  lower.  The  diffused  nature  of  the  appear- 
ance in  this  country,  renders  it  difficult  to  make  any  ac- 
curate observation  on  the  subject  ;  but  if  the  Aurora 
should  continue  occasionally  to  assume  the  form  of  a 
movable  luminous  arch,  gliding  slowly  in  a  well-defined 
continuous  body  towards  the  zenith,  as  it  has  lately  done 
in  several  instances  and  in  different  seasons,  observa- 
tions taken  from  various  stations  might  settle  the  point. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  and  however  high  the  northern  lights 
may  actually  rise  in  this  comparatively  southern  latitude, 
it  seems  to  be  ascertained  by  Captain  Franklin  and  his 
companions,  that,  in  the  higher  latitudes  of  North  Amer- 
ica, and  still  nearer  the  Pole,  the  region  of  the  Aurora 
is  not  many  miles  above  the  earth.  They  discovered, 
by  actual  observation,  that,  in  several  instances,  it  did 
not  rise  higher  than  six  or  seven  miles  ;  and  both  there 
and  in  Siberia,  it  would  seem  to  be  often  much  lower 
even  than  this.  The  same  kind  of  appearances,  as  are  de- 
scribed by  Gmelin,  above  quoted,  appear  sometimes  to 
occur  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  These,  howev- 
er, are  not  frequent  ;  and  the  more  usual  phenomena 
partake  much  of  the  nature  of  the  following,  which  I 
quote  from  Mr.  Richardson's  interesting  observations  on 
this  meteor  : — 

"  When  the  Aurora  had  exhibited  itself  in  this  form 
for  a  considerable  space  of  time,  the  whole  mass  of  light 
suddenly  appeared  in  motion,  and,  sweeping  round  on 
each  side,  was  gathered  together  to  the  southward  of  the  ze- 
nith. Immediately  thereafter,  a  large  portion  of  it  was  seen 
in  the  southeast,  assuming  an  exact  resemblance  to  a  cur- 
tain suspended  in  a  circular  form  in  the  air,  and  hanging 
perpendicularly  to  the  earth's  surface.  The  lower  edge 


40  METEORIC    SHOWERS. 

of  this  curtain  was  very  luminous,  and  had  a  waving  mo- 
tion; and  the  illusion  was  farther  heightened  by  the  momen- 
tary appearance  of  perpendicular  dark  lines  or  breaks  in  the 
light,  in  rapid  succession  round  the  circle,  exactly  as  the 
waving  of  a  curtain  would  cause  the  dark  shades  of  its 
folds  to  move  along  it.  This  beautiful  curtain  of  light  was 
about  forty  degrees  high,  and  of  a  pale  yellowish  color, 
and  sent  forth  on  the  one  side  a  process  which  approached 
the  southeast-by-east  point  of  the  horizon,  and  the  other 
was  connected  with  a  long  regular  arch,  terminating  in  the 
northwest  horizon,  similarly  constructed,  and  having  the 
same  waving  motion  with  the  curtain  itself.  All  this  time 
the  sky  was  perfectly  clear,  except  in  the  southern  quar- 
ter, which,  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  degrees,  was 
occupied  by  dark  clouds,  apparently  intermediate  between 
stratus  and  cirro-stratus. 

u  Half  an  hour  after  its  first  appearance,  this  curtain- 
formed  Aurora  was  resolved  into  a  number  of  detached 
irregular  portions,  which  sometimes  increased  rapidly  in 
every  direction,  until  they  met  with  other  masses,  either 
before  existing,  or  appearing  at  the  instant,  and  formed 
a  uniform  sheet  of  light,  which  covered  the  whole  sky. 
The  formation  of  this  great  sheet  of  light  was  so  rapid, 
that  the  eye  could  only  trace  its  progress  partially,  and 
its  dissolution  and  reappearance  were  equally  sudden."* 


SECOND  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

METEORIC  SHOWERS. 

I  HAVE  now  to  mention  another  celestial  phenomenon 
of  a  very  singular  nature,  connected  with  two  days  in 
the  present  week,  which  has  lately  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  scientific  world.  The  following  account  of 

*  Franklin's  Narrative,  p.621. 


METEORIC    SHOWERS.  41 

it  I  extract  from  Mrs.  Somerville's  '  Connexion  of  the 
Physical  Sciences.' 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  November,  1799, 
thousands  of  shooting  stars,  mixed  with  large  meteors, 
illuminated  the  heavens  for  many  hours,  over  the  whole 
continent  of  America,  from  Brazil  to  Labrador  ;  they 
extended  to  Greenland,  and  even  Germany.  Meteoric 
showers  were  seen  off  the  coast  of  Spain,  and  in  the  Ohio 
country,  on  the  morning  of  13th  November,  1831  ;  and 
during  many  hours  on  the  morning  of  13th  November, 
1832,  prodigious  multitudes  of  shooting  stars  and  meteors 
fell  at  Mocha,  on  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  Atlantic,  in  Swit- 
zerland, and  at  many  places  in  England.  But  by  much 
the  most  splendid  meteoric  shower  on  record,  began  at 
9  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  12th  November,  1833,  and 
lasted  till  sunrise  next  morning.*  It  extended  from 
Niagara  and  the  northern  lakes  of  America,  to  the  south 
of  Jamaica,  and  from  sixty-one  degrees  of  longitude  in 
the  Atlantic,  to  one  hundred  degrees  of  longitude  in  Cen- 
tral Mexico.  Shooting  stars  and  meteors,  of  the  appa- 
rent size  of  Jupiter,  Venus,  and  even  the  full  moon, 
darted  in  myriads  toward  the  horizon,  as  if  all  the  stars 
in  the  heavens  had  started  from  their  spheres.  They 
are  described  as  having  been  as  frequent  as  flakes  of 
snow  in  a  snow-storm,  and  to  have  been  seen  with  equal 
brilliancy  over  the  greater  part  of  the  continent  of  North 
America. 

u  Those  who  witnessed  this  grand  spectacle,  were  sur- 
prised to  see  that  every  one  of  the  luminous  bodies,  with- 
out exception,  moved  in  lines,  which  converged  in  one 
point  in  the  heavens  ;  none  of  them  started  from  that 
point ;  but  their  paths,  when  traced  backwards,  met  in  it, 
like  rays  in  a  focus,  and  the  measure  of  their  fall  showed 
that  they  descended  from  it  in  nearly  parallel  straight 
lines  towards  the  earth. 

*  The  French  Academy  of  Sciences  have  taken  an  interest  in  the 
discussion  to  which  this  phenomenon  has  given  rise,  and  it  appears, 
from  the  recent  communication  of  M.  L.  Ekberte,  that  the  meteoric 
shower  of  13th  November,  1832,  extended  even  to  the  Mauritius,  where 
it  is  said  to  have  been  seen  at  the  same  period,  and  with  the  same  ap- 
pearances, as  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
4* 


42  METEORIC   SHOWERS. 

4 'By  far  the  most  extraordinary  part  of  the  whole 
phenomenon  is,  that  this  radiant  point  was  observed  to 
remain  stationary  near  the  star  y  Leonis,*  for  more  than 
two  hours  and  a  half,  which  proved  the  source  of  the 
meteoric  shower  to  be  altogether  independent  of  the 
earth's  rotation,  and  its  parallax  showed  it  to  be  far 
above  the  atmosphere. 

u  As  a  body  could  not  be  actually  at  rest  in  that  posi- 
tion, the  group  must  either  have  been  moving  round  the 
earth  or  the  sun.  Had  it  been  moving  round  the  earth, 
the  course  of  the  meteors  would  have  been  tangential  to 
its  surface,  whereas  they  fell  almost  perpendicularly,  so 
that  the  earth,  in  its  annual  revolution,  must  have  met 
with  the  group.  The  bodies  that  were  nearest,  must 
have  been  attracted  towards  the  earth  by  its  gravity  ;  and 
as  they  were  estimated  to  move  at  the  rate  of  fourteen 
miles  in  a  second,  they  must  have  taken  fire  on  entering 
our  atmosphere,  and  have  been  consumed  in  their  pas- 
sage through  it. 

"  As  all  the  circumstances  of  the  phenomenon  were 
similar,  on  the  same  day,  and  during  the  same  hours,  in 
1832,  and  as  extraordinary  flights  of  shooting  stars  were 
seen  at  many  places,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  on 
13th  November,  1834,  tending  also  from  a  fixed  point  in 
the  constellation  Leo,  it  has  been  conjectured,  with  much 
apparent  probability,  that  this  group  of  bodies  performs 
its  revolution  round  the  sun  in  a  period  of  about  182 
days,  in  an  elliptical  orbit,  whose  major  axis  is  119,000, 
000  of  miles  ;  and  that  its  aphelion  distance,  where  it 
comes  in  contact  with  the  earth's  atmosphere,  is  about 
95,000,000  of  miles,  or  nearly  the  same  with  the  mean 
distance  of  the  earth  from  the  sun." 

These  views  correspond  with  those  of  the  most  cele- 
brated living  astronomers.  M.  Arago,  from  the  facts 
mentioned,  concludes  that  u  a  new  planetary  world  is  about 
to  be  revealed  to  us  ;"  and,  at  all  events,  there  does  seem 

*[  That  is,  the  star  designated  by  the  letter  Gamma  in  the  constella- 
tion Leo.  Gamma  is  the  third  letter  of  the  Greek  alphabet,  and  is 
used  by  astronomers  to  denote  those  stars  which  are  third  in  magni- 
tude in  their  respective  constellations.  AM.  ED.] 


METEORIC    SHOWERS.  43 

to  be  a  stream  of  innumerable  bodies,  comparatively 
small,  but  of  various  dimensions,  moving  constantly  round 
the  sun,  whose  orbit  cuts  that  of  our  earth,  at  the  point 
which  it  occupies  on  the  12th  or  13th  of  November, 
every  year.*  For  any  thing  that  we  can  tell,  indeed, there 
may  be  vast  numbers  of  bodies  circling  round  the  sun,  and 
even  round  the  earth  itself,  which,  on  account  of  their 
minuteness  and  opacity,escape  human  observation.  Such 
a  supposition  serves  to  explain  the  meteoric  appearances 
which  are  constantly  occurring  in  the  clear  nights  of 
winter,  and  which  might,  perhaps,  be  not  less  common 
in  summer,  were  the  operations  in  the  upper  regions 
equally  visible  at  that  season. 

Falling  stars  would  seem  to  be  nothing  else  than  bodies 
of  this  description,  rendered  visible  from  being  ignited 
by  the  rapidity  of  their  passage  through  our  atmosphere, 
or  by  some  chemical  cause  ;  and  meteoric  stones,  the  fall 
of  which  is  much  more  frequent  than  is  commonly  sup- 
posed, may  be  accounted  for  in  the  same  way.  Some 
of  the  latter  are  of  great  magnitude,  exceeding,  in  certain 
instances,  seventy  miles  in  diameter.  Mrs.  Somerville 
mentions  one  which  passed  within  twenty-five  miles  of 
us,  and  was  estimated  to  weigh  about  600,000  tons,  and 
to  move  with  a  velocity  of  about  twenty  miles  in  a  sec- 
ond. This  huge  mass  was  providentially  prevented  from 
striking  the  earth,  a  detached  fragment  of  it  alone  having 
yielded  to  the  force  of  our  planet's  gravitation.  It  is  re- 
markable, that  the  chemical  composition  of  these  mete- 
oric stones,  while  it  materially  differs  from  that  of  the 

*[  This  conclusion  must  be  regarded  as  much  too  hasty,  considering 
the  great  deficiency  of  successive  accurate  observations,  and  our  yet 
imperfect  knowledge  of  meteoric  phenomena.  It  seems  to  be  now 
conceded,  that  since  the  famous  meteoric  shower  of  November  13, 
1833,  there  has  been  no  larger  number  of  meteors  noted  at  that  sea- 
son, than  on  many  other  nights  of  the  year.  But  the  whole  subject  is  an 
exceedingly  interesting  one,  and  we  may  hope  will  receive  farther  elu- 
cidation. It  is  proper  to  add,  that  the  best  account  of  the  great  "show- 
er" of  November,  1833,  was  given  by  Professor  Olmsted  of  New  Haven, 
and  published  in  Silliman's  '  American  Journal  of  Science  and  the  Arts  ;' 
in  which  work  there  have  since  appeared  several  other  papers  on  the 
same  subject.  AM.  ED.] 


44  VARIETY  OF   CLIMATES. 

ordinary  strata  of  our  globe,  is  uniform  and  almost  iden- 
tical as  regards  themselves. 

What  part  these  mysterious  bodies  act  in  the  system 
of  the  universe,  we  cannot  tell, — perhaps  we  may  never 
be  able  even  to  conjecture  ;  but  we  may  well  learn  from 
the  analogy  of  objects  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
that  even  they  are  not  useless  appendages  of  our  solar 
system  ;  and,  at  all  events,  we  are  bound  confidently  to 
believe  that  such  bodies  are  as  much  under  the  control  of 
the  Creator,  as  every  other  part  of  the  creation,  and  can 
never,  independent  of  the  Divine  fiat,  disturb  the  equi- 
librium of  our  planet, or  interfere  with  the  happiness  of 
its  inhabitants.  It  is  the  delightful  result  of  religious 
belief  to  be  assured,  that,  however  threatening  may  be 
the  aspect  assumed  by  scientific  discoveries,  there  is  not 
an  object  in  nature  left  to  the  reckless  sway  of  chance  ; — 
that  all  things  are  adjusted  with  unerring  wisdom,  man- 
aged by  infinite  power,  and  overruled  for  good  with 
paternal  care. 


SECOND  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

VARIETY  OP  CLIMATES. 

THE  difference  of  climates  arises,  as  I  have  already 
observed,  from  the  spherical  figure  and  inclined  position 
of  the  earth,  which  turns  a  single  ring  on  its  surface  to 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  oscillating  between  two  defin- 
ed limits,  and  subjects  all  the  rest,  more  or  less,  to  his 
oblique,  and  therefore  less  powerful,  influence.  The  ef- 
fect of  this  is,  the  production  of  all  the  varieties  of  heat 
and  cold,  from  the  fervid  glow  of  the  tropics,  to  the  per- 
petual ice  and  snow  in  the  regions  of  the  poles.  The 
adaptation  of  plants  and  animals  to  these  diversities,  forms 
a  most  curious  subject  of  consideration,  which  will  be 
afterwards  examined  with  reference  to  the  respective 


VARIETY  OF  CLIMATES.  45 

seasons  ;  but  as  allusion  has,  in  a  preceding  paper,  been 
made  to  the  advantages  derived  from  a  variety  of  climates, 
it  may  be  useful  here  to  pursue  this  subject  a  little  fur- 
ther. 

It  has  been  with  truth  observed,  that  the  developement 
of  the  human  powers  depends  mainly  upon  our  wants, 
either  natural  or  artificial,  and  these  again  are  increased 
or  restrained  in  proportion  to  the  means  of  indulgence, 
so  that  the  influence  is  reciprocal.  We  are  naturally 
indolent,  but  stand  in  need  of  activity,  for  giving  vigor 
both  to  our  mental  and  physical  powers.  We,  therefore, 
require  a  strong  stimulus  to  exertion  ;  and  that  stimulus 
is  to  be  found  in  our  wants,  a  circumstance  which  has 
given  rise  to  the  wellknown  proverb, — Necessity  is  the 
mother  of  invention. 

Were  all  the  productions  of  the  earth  to  be  spontane- 
ous and  abundant,  it  may  well  be  questioned  if  man  would 
ever  rise  above  the  level  of  the  most  degraded  savage. 
This  observation  is  strikingly  sustained  and  illustrated  by 
history,  which  informs  us,  that  a  prostration  of  all  the 
energies  of  body  and  rnind  has  been  uniformly  found 
among  the  native  inhabitants  of  tropical  regions,  where 
nature  is  lavish  of  her  stores,  and  that  it  is  to  the  dwellers 
in  countries  where  the  necessaries  of  life  are  more  scan- 
tily produced,  that  we  are  to  look  for  a  race,  hardy, 
vigorous,  and  intelligent.  To  what  extent  the  direct 
influence  of  an  intense  heat  cooperates  with  the  more 
indirect  cause  we  are  now  considering,  in  producing  this 
enervated  state,  it  may  be  difficult  to  determine  ;  but  that 
it  is  not  the  only,  or  indeed  the  chief  agent,  cannot  be 
doubted.  While  the  natives  of  regions  where  plenty 
reigns,  indulging  their  natural  appetites  without  exertion 
and  without  restraint,  sink  deeper  and  deeper  in  indolence 
and  effeminacy,  those  of  less  bountiful  countries,  finding 
an  increased  population  pressing  hard  on  the  means  of 
subsistence,  are  stimulated  by  their  wants  to  vigorous 
exertion,  and  from  sheer  necessity  are  rendered  active, 
ingenious,  and  enterprising.  Among  the  first  effects, 
which  history  describes  as  produced  by  this  difference 
in  character  and  circumstances,  are  the  warlike  irruptions 


46  VARIETY  OF   CLIMATES. 

of  the  hardy  tribes  of  the  north  on  the  luxuriant  inhab- 
itants of  the  south,  accompanied  by  extensive  conquests, 
and  ending  in  the  permanent  settlement  of  these  nations 
in  the  fertile  regions,  of  which  they  took  forcible  posses- 
sion. The  stimulus  which  was  thus  given  to  the  human 
faculties,  has  frequently  been  permanent,  and  has  produced 
extensive,  and  eventually  important,  consequences  on  the 
improvement  of  the  species. 

This,  however,  is  mentioned  only  incidentally  ;  my  ob- 
ject, at  present,  being  merely  to  show  the  salutary  effect 
of  a  limited  and  comparatively  scanty  supply  of  the  ne- 
cessaries of  life,  arising  from  what  may,  as  regards  pro- 
duction, be  considered  an  unfavorable  climate.  But  this 
remark  has  its  limitations  ;  and  I  must  not  neglect  to  state, 
that  cold  and  consequent  privation,  when  carried  to  an 
extreme,  have  a  depressing  effect  of  a  different  kind. 
The  natives  of  Greenland,  and  the  other  countries  bor- 
dering on  the  Arctic  circle,  are  not  less  degraded  in  the 
scale  of  intellect  than  the  Negro  race  in  the  torrid  wilds 
of  Africa.  It  is  in  the  regions  within  theTemperate  zones, 
that  the  mind  of  man,  along  with  his  bodily  powers, 
seems  most  freely  and  vigorously  to  expand.  He  is  here 
situated  in  regions  not  only  peculiarly  suited  to  his  bodily 
constitution,  but  to  the  developement  of  his  moral  and 
intellectual  faculties.  The  variety  of  climate,  alternating 
between  moderate  heat  and  mitigated  cold,  while  it  re- 
quires attention  to  the  comforts  of  clothing  and  habitation 
in  their  adaption  to  the  changes  of  the  seasons,  and  thus 
exercises  his  ingenuity,  presses  still  more  powerfully  on 
the  resources  of  his  mind,  by  the  cessation,  during  a 
considerable  part  of  the  year,  of  that  supply  of  the  ne- 
cessaries of  existence,  which,  at  another  season,  is  afforded 
in  comparative  abundance.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
circumstances,  man  becomes,  by  a  kind  of  moral  and 
physical  necessity,  a  storing  animal,  and  habits  of  fore- 
thought, thus  engendered,  are  strengthened  and  increased 
by  exercise,  till  the  mercantile  spirit  is  produced. 

The  same  tendency  is  encouraged  by  the  diversified 
productions  of  different  soils,  of  changing  seasons,  of 
various  elevations  from  the  mountain  to  the  valley,  of 


VARIETY   OF   CLIMATES.  47 

adjoining  islands  and  continents,  and  even  of  more  distant 
regions.  Placed  in  the  middle,  between  the  two  extremes 
of  climate,  the  productions  of  the  north  and  of  the  south 
are  equally  within  reach  of  the  inhabitant  of  the  temperate 
zones  ;  and  experience  soon  teaches  him  the  enjoyment 
and  comfort  of  accumulating  from  both  quarters.  The 
neighborhood  of  seas,  lakes,  and  rivers,  contributes  much 
to  the  fostering  of  this  spirit,  by  affording  facilities  of 
intercourse  which  could  not  otherwise  be  obtained  ;  and, 
accordingly,  we  find  that  the  early  efforts  of  commercial 
enterprise  have  been  chiefly  confined  to  such  localities, 
or  at  least,  have  derived  their  origin  or  their  stimulus 
from  them.  It  is  true,  that  the  first  traders  of  whom  we 
read,  were  among  the  descendants  of  Ishmael,  a  wander- 
ing and  active  inland  tribe  ;  but  it  was  to  the  maritime 
land  of  Egypt  that  they  were  directing  their  course  for 
conducting  their  petty  traffic .  The  rise  of  the  mercan- 
tile spirit  in  Egypt  is  easily  accounted  for,  on  the  prin- 
ciples to  which  we  have  adverted.  Situated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile,  a  navigable  river,  with  the  Red  Sea 
towards  the  south,  and  the  broad  Mediterranean  towards 
the  north,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Egyptians  should  have 
been  among  the  earliest  and  most  successful  merchants 
of  ancient  times.  A  similar  remark  may  apply  to  Tyre, 
Sidon,  and  Carthage,  where  the  mercantile  spirit  also 
prevailed.  And,  indeed,  it  is  impossible  not  to  regard 
the  subsequent  civilization  of  European  nations,  surround- 
ed as  they  are  by  facilities  for  navigation,  and  situated 
in  a  climate  possessing  all  the  properties  we  have  de- 
scribed, as  the  natural,  or  rather  providential,  result  of 
the  same  principles. 


48  EFFECT   OF  THE   COMMERCIAL   SPIRIT 


SECOND  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

PRACTICAL  EFFECT    OF  THE    COMMERCIAL    SPIRIT    PRODUCED 
BY  A  VARIETY  OF  CLIMATES. 

IT  would  be  very  interesting  to  trace  the  progress  of  a 
mercantile  spirit,  arising  from  the  wants  of  one  climate, 
and  the  superabundance  of  another  ;  but  this  is  a  specu- 
lation which  I  cannot  at  present  stop  to  pursue  in  its  va- 
rious bearings  ;  and  I  must  confine  myself  to  a  rapid 
view  of  the  practical  effects  actually  produced  by  it  in 
European  countries. 

The  desire  to  possess,  when  once  thoroughly  awakened, 
becomes  insatiable  ;  and  this,  again,  gives  a  proportionate 
stimulus  to  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  which  induces  the 
traveller  to  urge  his  discoveries,  and  the  trader  to  com- 
pass sea  and  land  in  the  transport  of  produce  from  coun- 
try to  country  ;  while  the  artificer,  the  manufacturer,  and 
the  agriculturist,  each  in  his  own  department,  exert  their 
industry,  skill,  and  ingenuity,  in  turning  to  account  the 
knowledge  and  the  materials  which  thus  flow  in  upon 
them.  It  is  because  neither  the  climate  nor  the  soil  of 
any  one  country  is  naturally  suited  to  the  production  of 
all  the  luxuries  and  conveniences  which  man  covets, 
and  because,  even  where  these  objects  of  desire  might  be 
produced  by  human  industry,  they  are  not  naturally  to 
be  found,  that  the  intercourse  between  distant  countries 
takes  place,  on  which  so  much  of  the  civilization  of  the 
world  depends.  The  ingenuity  of  man  being  thus  stim- 
ulated, produces  the  most  surprising  changes,  and  pro- 
motes, in  an  astonishing  degree,  the  means  of  human 
subsistence  and  enjoyment.  It  is  not  merely  that  the 
varied  riches  of  other  lands  are  imported,  but  that  an 
essential  alteration  is  effected  in  the  actual  produce  of 
the  soil. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  noticed  by  Mr.  Whewell,  that 


PRODUCED   BY  A   VARIETY   OF   CLIMATES.  49 

where  man  is  an  active  cultivator,  he  scarcely  ever  be- 
stows much  of  his  care  on  those  vegetables  which  the 
land  would  produce  in  a  state  of  nature.  He  improves 
the  soil,  he  even  improves  the  climate,  by  his  skilful  la- 
bors, and  he  thus  renders  both  fit  for  sustaining  and 
nourishing  more  useful  plants.  He,  therefore,  does  not 
generally  select  some  of  the  natural  productions,  and 
improve  them  by  careful  culture,  but,  for  the  most  part, 
he  expels  the  native  possessors  of  the  land,  and  intro- 
duces colonies  of  strangers.  This  remark  he  proceeds  to 
exemplify  in  the  condition  of  his  own  country,  England. 

"  Scarcely  one  of  the  plants,"  he  says,  "  which  oc- 
cupy our  fields  and  gardens,  is  indigenous  to  the  coun- 
try. The  walnut  and  the  peach  come  to  us  from  Persia  ; 
the  apricot  from  Armenia.  From  Asia  Minor  and  Syria, 
we  have  the  cherry-tree,  the  fig,  the  pear,  the  pome- 
granate, the  olive,  the  plum,  and  the  mulberry.  The 
vine  which  is  now  cultivated,  is  not  a  native  of  Europe  ; 
it  is  found  wild  on  the  shores  of  the  Caspian,  in  Armenia, 
and  Caramania.  The  most  useful  species  of  plants,  the 
cereal  vegetables,  are  certainly  strangers,  though  their 
birthplace  seems  to  be  an  impenetrable  secret.  Some 
have  fancied  that  barley  is  found  wild  on  the  banks  of  the 
Semara,  in  Tartary  ;  rye  in  Crete  ;  wheat  at  Baschkiros, 
in  Asia  ;  but  this  is  held  by  the  best  botanists  to  be  very 
doubtful.  The  potato,  which  has  been  so  widely  dif- 
fused over  the  world,  in  modern  times,  and  has  added  so 
much  to  the  resources  of  life  in  many  countries,  has 
been  found  equally  difficult  to  trace  back  to  its  wild  con- 
dition."* 

uln  our  own  country,"  Mr.  Whewell  goes  on  to 
observe,  "  a  higher  state  of  the  arts  of  life  is  marked  by 
a  more  ready  and  extensive  adoption  of  foreign  produc- 
tions. Our  fields  are  covered  with  herbs  from  Holland, 

*  Whewell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  71. — He  observes  in  a  note, 
that  it  appears  now  to  be  ascertained  that  the  edible  potato  is  found  wild 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Valparaiso.  [See  a  paper  in  the  fifth  volume 
of  the  Transactions  of  the  London  Horticultural  Society,  on  the  Native 
Country  of  the  Wild  Potato,  by  Joseph  Sabine,  Esq.  This  gentleman 
cultivated  with  success  some  specimens  sent  to  him  from  the  locality 
mentioned  above. — AM.  ED.] 

i.  5  vn. 


50  EFFECT   OF  THE    COMMERCIAL   SPIRIT 

and  roots  from  Germany  ;  with  Flemish  farming,  and 
Swedish  turnips  ;  our  hills  with  forests  of  the  firs  of  Nor- 
way. The  chestnut  and  the  poplar  of  the  south  of  Eu- 
rope adorn  our  lawns,  and  below  them  flourish  shrubs 
and  flowers,  from  every  clime,  in  profusion.  In  the 
meantime,  Arabia  improves  our  horses,  China  our  pigs, 
North  America  our  poultry,  Spain  our  sheep,  and  almost 
every  country  sends  its  dog.  The  products  which  are 
ingredients  in  our  luxuries,  and  which  we  cannot  natu- 
ralize at  home,  we  raise  in  our  colonies ;  the  cotton,  coffee, 
and  sugar  of  the  East,  are  thus  transplanted  to  the  fur- 
thest West  ;  and  man  lives  in  the  middle  of  a  rich  and 
varied  abundance,  which  depends  on  the  facility  with 
which  plants,  and  animals,  and  modes  of  culture  can  be 
transferred  into  lands  far  removed  from  those  in  which 
nature  had  placed  them.  And  this  plenty  and  variety 
of  material  comforts,  is  the  companion  and  the  mark  of 
advantages  and  improvements  in  social  life,  of  progress 
in  art  and  science,  of  activity  of  thought,  of  energy  of 
purpose,  and  of  ascendency  of  character. 

[Governor  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  in  one  of  his 
eloquent  Addresses,  thus  applies  a  similar  train  of  remark 
to  the  people  of  our  United  States — who,  it  may  be  ob- 
served,are  supplied  with  the  productions  of  various  cli- 
mates in  a  very  considerable  measure  by  their  own  coast- 
ing trade,  and  internal  communications.  "As  individuals," 
he  says,  u  differ  in  their  capacities,  countries  differ  in  soil 
and  climate  ;  and  this  difference  leads  to  infinite  variety 
of  fabrics  and  productions,  artificial  and  natural.  Com- 
merce perceives  this  diversity,  and  organizes  a  bound- 
less system  of  exchanges,  the  object  of  which  is  to 
supply  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  want  and  desire, 
and  to  effect  the  widest  possible  diffusion  of  useful  and 
convenient  products.  The  extent  to  which  this  exchange 
of  products  is  carried  in  highly-civilized  countries,  is 
truly  wonderful.  There  are  probably  few  individuals  in 
this  assembly  who  took  their  morning's  meal  this  day, 
without  the  use  of  articles  brought  from  almost  every 
part  of  the  world.  The  table  on  which  it  was  served 
was  made  from  a  tree  which  grew  on  the  Spanish  main 


PRODUCED  BY  A  VARIETY   OF   CLIMATES.  51 

or  one  of  the  West-India  islands,  and  it  was  covered 
with  a  table-cloth  from  St.  Petersburg  or  Archangel. 
The  tea  was  from  China  ;  the  coffee  from  Java  ;  the 
sugar  from  Cuba  or  Louisiana  ;  the  silver  spoons  from 
Mexico  or  Peru  ;  the  cups  and  saucers  from  England 
or  France.  Each  of  these  articles  was  purchased  by  an 
exchange  of  other  products — the  growth  of  our  own  or 
foreign  countries — collected  and  distributed  by  a  succes- 
sion of  voyages,  often  to  the  furthest  corners  of  the 
globe.  Without  cultivating  a  rood  of  'ground,  we  taste 
the  richest  fruits  of  every  soil.  Without  stirring  from 
our  fireside,  we  collect  on  our  tables  the  growth  of  every 
region.  In  the  midst  of  winter,  we  are  served  with 
fruits  that  ripened  in  a  tropical  sun  ;  and  struggling 
monsters  are  dragged  from  the  depths  of  the  Pacific 
ocean  to  lighten  our  dwellings." — AM.  ED.] 

This  display  of  the  effects  of  commercial  and  agri- 
cultural intercourse,  which  might  easily  be  enlarged,  de- 
pending, as  that  intercourse  mainly  does,  on  the  influ- 
ence, direct  and  indirect,  of  varieties  of  climate  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  serves  to  show  a  wrise  and  beneficent 
intention  in  so  unequal  a  distribution  of  temperature,  and 
brings  us  back  to  the  conclusion,  that,  whatever  partial 
inconveniences  may  accompany  such  arrangement,  these 
are  vastly  counterbalanced  by  the  advantages  of  which  it 
is  productive.  If  it  be  true,  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  that 
much  of  the  activity,  ingenuity,  and  intelligence,  which 
exist  in  the  world,  had  their  first  developement  in  the 
circumstances  attending  the  differences  in  question  ;  and 
if  the  very  wants  and  privations  of  a  less  genial  climate 
have  eventually,  not  merely  improved  the  intellectual 
character  of  men,  but  bound  them  together  by  new  and 
intimate  ties,  from  the  equator  to  the  vicinity  of  the  poles, 
how  can  we  avoid  the  inference,  that  such  extensive  and 
inportant  results  were  contemplated  and  provided  for  by 
the  Divine  Mind,  in  establishing  the  relations  between 
the  natural  and  moral  worlds  ? 

["  No  man, "again  observes  Governor  Everett,  "can 
promote  his  own  interest  without  promoting  that  of 
others.  As,  in  the  system  of  the  universe,  every  particle 


52          ADAPTATION   OF   ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES 

of  matter  is  attracted  by  every  other  particle,  and  it  is 
not  possible  that  a  mote  in  a  sunbeam  should  be  displaced 
without  producing  an  effect  on  the  orbit  of  Saturn,  so 
the  minutest  excess  or  defect  in  the  supply  of  any  one 
article  of  human  want,  produces  an  effect — though  of 
course  an  insensible  one — on  the  exchanges  of  all  other 
articles.  In  this  way,  that  Providence  which  educes  the 
harmonious  system  of  the  heavens  out  of  the  adjusted 
motions  and  balanced  masses  of  its  shining  orbs,  with  equal 
benevolence  and  care, furnishes  to  the  countless  millions 
of  the  human  family,  through  an  interminable  succession 
of  exchanges,  the  supply  of  their  diversified  and  innu- 
merable wants." — AM.  ED.] 


SECOND  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

ADAPTATION  OF  ORGANIZED  EXISTENCES  TO  SEASONS  AND 
CLIMATES. 

THE  adaptation  of  plants  and  animals  to  the  changes 
of  the  seasons,  which,  taken  even  in  the  broad  and  gen- 
eral view,  is  so  clear  an  indication  of  an  intelligent  De- 
signing Cause,  is  no  where  more  conspicuous  than  in  the 
season  of  winter.  Were  but  a  strong  and  continuous 
blast  of  the  breath  of  winter  to  pass  over  our  forests, 
fields,  and  gardens,  in  any  of  those  months  when  vegeta- 
tion is  in  its  glory,  and  when  animated  nature  luxuriates 
in  universal  plenty,  the  effect  would  be  most  disastrous. 
All  organized  existences  would  feel  the  fatal  shock. 
Leaves,  and  fruits,  and  flowers,  would  shrink,  wither, 
and  decay ;  insects  on  the  wing  would  fall  lifeless  to  the 
earth ;  the  various  species  of  caterpillars  would  drop 
stiff  and  dying  from  the  frozen  vegetables  on  which  they 
fed  ;  even  the  larger  animals  would  be  stricken  with  the 
general  blight  ;  birds  and  beasts,  if  they  did  not  instantly 
perish,  would  droop  and  shiver ;  and  man  himself,  adapted 


TO  SEASONS  AND  CLIMATES.  53 

as  his  constitution  is, to  sustain  the  rigors  of  all  climates, 
would  find  himself  invaded  by  deadly  diseases.  Nor 
would  the  evil  end  here.  Not  only  would  individuals 
die,  but  whole  species  would  become  extinct.  The 
seeds,  and  eggs,  and  larvae,  which  propagate  the  various 
races  of  plants  and  insects,  would  be  unproduced.  The 
progress  of  reproduction  would  be  arrested  at  its  source  ; 
and,  were  the  untimely  blast  to  be  universal,  various 
links  would  be  broken  for  ever  in  the  chain  of  existence. 

This  consideration  brings  us,  at  once,  to  a  clear  per- 
ception of  the  kind  of  adaptation  to  which  I  allude.  It 
is  evident,  that  some  peculiar  provision  has  been  made, 
in  temperate  climates,  for  the  preservation  of  organized 
existences  during  winter.  In  that  season,  they  are  not 
in  the  same  condition  as  in  other  seasons  of  the  year.  It 
is  not  merely  that  the  change  from  heat  to  cold  has  been 
gradual.  It  is  true, that  the  hurtful  effects  of  a  violent 
alteration  of  temperature  are  thus  avoided  ;  and  this  is 
something  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  in  the  wise 
provisions  of  the  Author  of  Nature.  But  much  more 
than  this  was  necessary  ;  and,  as  we  shall  afterwards  have 
ample  means  of  observing,  has  actually  been  effected.  It 
was  requisite,  for  the  preservation  both  of  plants  and 
animals,  that,  during  winter,  their  habits  and  functions 
should  be  altered,  or  even  suspended,  and  that  peculiar 
contrivances  should  be  resorted  to  for  protecting  them 
from  the  rigors  of  the  season. 

But  there  is  another  consideration  which  must  not  be 
overlooked.  Not  only  are  there  peculiar  provisions  for 
preserving  animal  and  vegetable  life,  in  our  temperate 
climates,  during  the  cold  of  winter,  but  the  whole  classes 
of  organized  beings  which  exist  in  any  climate,  are 
adapted  to  all  the  ordinary  changes  of  their  peculiar 
locality  ;  so  that  the  fact  I  have  mentioned,  is  only  a 
single  instance  of  a  principle  of  adaptation  which  runs 
through  the  whole  system.  The  tropical  plants,  for  ex- 
ample, are  peculiarly  formed,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
living  and  flourishing  under  vertical  suns,  long  droughts, 
and  periodical  rains ;  the  vegetable  productions  of  the 
polar  regions,  on  the  other  hand,  have  been  remarkably 
5* 


54         ADAPTATION      OF   ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES. 

contrived  for  resisting  the  chilly  influences  occasioned 
by  the  long  absence  of  the  sun,  and  for  starting  suddenly 
into  life,  and  running  their  short  but  rapid  race,  during 
the  few  weeks  which  comprise  their  spring,  summer,  and 
autumn.  And  so  it  is, also, with  our  temperate  climates. 
It  is  not  in  winter,  alone,  that  an  adaptation  to  the  season 
is  conspicuous,  but  throughout  every  month  of  the  year. 
Every  parallel  of  latitude  has  its  peculiarities  of  weather, 
— its  longer  or  shorter  duration  of  mildness  and  of  rigor, 
— of  rain  and  of  drought, — of  light  and  of  darkness  ;  and 
to  all  these  varieties,  the  plants  indigenous  to  the  soil  are 
adapted. 

But,  what  is  more,  under  the  very  same  parallel,  there 
are  localities  which  differ  materially  from  the  general 
average  of  the  climate,  on  account  of  the  elevation  of 
mountain  ranges,  or  other  accidental  circumstances. 
Here,  again,  we  find  very  striking  indications  of  the  provi- 
dent care  we  have  noticed.  By  whatever  mysterious 
means  the  distribution  has  been  made,  there  we  find 
productions  suited  to  the  situation.  Some  extraordinary 
instances  of  this,  have  been  noticed  on  the  Himmaleh 
mountains,  on  the  Andes,  on  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  and, 
indeed,  in  all  the  quarters  of  the  globe  where  lofty  moun- 
tain ranges  are  to  be  found.  Humboldt  has  shown, that 
there  is  upon  the  earth  a  geographical  distribution  of 
plants,  according  to  its  various  climates,  which  he  dis- 
tinguishes into  so  many  zones  of  vegetation,  from  the  pole 
to  the  equator.  In  the  Island  of  Teneriffe,  he  observed 
that  its  various  heights,  which,  as  in  all  mountains,  are 
colder  as  the  elevation  increases,  exhibited  differences  of 
plants,  corresponding  with  the  temperature ;  and  he  di- 
vided the  various  heights  into  five  zones,  each  clearly 
marked  by  their  respective  vegetations.  It  has  been  a 
matter  of  curious  investigation  among  philosophers,  by 
what  means  the  earth  was  at  first  supplied  with  produc- 
tions suited  to  its  respective  climates  and  peculiarities  ; 
and  it  has  been  ingeniously  attempted  to  be  shown,  that 
a  single  mountain,  of  sufficient  elevation,  placed  in  a  fa- 
vorable situation,  and  furnished,  by  the  Creative  Power, 
with  the  various  vegetable  productions  which  its  different 


OMNIPRESENCE    OF   GOD.  55 

altitudes  and  consequent  varieties  of  temperature  required, 
might  suffice,  in  the  course  of  ages,  for  the  dissemination 
of  these  productions  over  the  whole  face  of  the  globe, 
according  as  its  various  localities  might  be  adapted  to 
receive  them.  Such  an  inquiry,  however,  is  more  curi- 
ous than  useful.  It  is  enough,  for  us  to  perceive  the  de- 
signing hand  of  a  wise  Creator  in  the  adaptation  of  the 
vegetable  creation  to  the  very  diversified  circumstances 
of  soil  and  climate,  as  it  is  found  actually  to  exist  in  the 
different  countries  and  regions  of  the  world. 

I  shall  only  add,  at  present,  that  what  has  just  been 
said  of  the  vegetable,  is  equally  applicable  to  the  animal 
kingdom,  as  will  be  seen  when  we  enter  into  the  particu- 
lars to  which  these  preliminary  remarks  refer. 


THIRD  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

THE  OMNIPRESENCE  OF  GOD. 

THE  doctrine  of  an  Eternal  Self-existent  Being,  in- 
volves, in  its  very  idea,  that  He  is  everywhere  present 
throughout  His  immeasurable  creation,  and  that,  if  there 
be  any  region  of  infinite  space  where  He  has  not  exerted 
His  creative  power,  He  is  there  also ;  and  this  doctrine 
receives  a  more  distinct  and  definite  character,  from  the 
discoveries  of  astronomy.  The  idea  of  infinity,  indeed, 
is  too  vast  to  be  fully  comprehended,  as  any  one  will  be 
forced  to  confess  who  makes  the  attempt.  We  can  con- 
ceive an  immense  extent,  but  it  is  an  extent  circum- 
scribed by  some  boundary,  however  distant  ;  and,  if  we 
only  attend  to  what  passes  in  our  own  minds,  when  we 
endeavor  to  extend  our  conceptions  so  as  to  arrive  at 
the  idea  of  infinite  space,  we  shall  find,  that  we  do  this 
by  figuring  to  ourselves,  first,  one  immense  extent,  and 
then,  beyond  that,  another,  and  another  still,  in  a  con- 
stant and  indefinite  series.  This  shows  the  limited  na- 


56  OMNIPRESENCE    OF  GOD. 

ture  of  our  mental  powers,  which  cannot  form  concep- 
tions, but  by  the  aid  of  things  that  are  the  object  of  the 
senses  ;  and  it  serves,  at  the  same  time,  to  exhibit  the 
importance  of  astronomical  studies,  in  assisting  the  mind 
to  form  a  more  exalted  view  of  the  Divine  attributes. 
Even  though  deprived  of  the  discoveries  of  astronomy, 
indeed,  we  could  still  speak  of  infinity  ;  but  our  concep- 
tions of  that  Divine  attribute  would  necessarily  be  far 
'less  vivid  and  definite.  It  is  by  the  help  of  this  most 
interesting  and  astonishing  science,  that  we  raise  our 
comprehension  from  the  contracted  bounds  of  our  own 
planet,  to  the  vast  extent  of  the  planetary  system  with 
which  we  are  connected,  and  thence  to  the  amazing  dis- 
tances of  the  fixed  stars,  and  thence, again, to  those  little 
spaces  in  the  heavens  called  nebulae,  full  of  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  worlds,  in  new  systems,  at  dis- 
tances beyond  the  power  of  numbers  to  compute.  Thus, 
step  by  step,  we  extend  our  views ;  and,  although  long 
before  we  have  reached  the  nearest  star,  we  find  our 
mental  powers  begin  to  flag,  and  in  tracing  these  discov- 
eries to  their  furthest  limit,  are  forced  to  confess,  that 
even  imagination  is  bewildered  and  lost,  yet  in  such  an 
exercise  we  certainly  do  gain  much  to  aid  our  concep- 
tions of  unbounded  space. 

The  practical  conclusion  to  which  we  come  is,  that, 
if  nature  be  so  unspeakably  and  inconceivably  immense, 
the  God  of  Nature  must  be  absolutely  infinite  ;  and  al- 
though, after  all,  we  can  form  no  distinct  idea  of  this 
attribute,  we  comprehend  enough  to  affect  the  mind  with 
highly  exalted  and  salutary  impressions. 

'  Infinity  implies  omnipresence.  The  Almighty,  is  an 
infinitely  extended  Mind.  Wherever  He  exists,  He  is 
conscious.  His  knowledge  is,  therefore,  as  infinite  as  His 
existence.  The  universe  lies  open  to  His  inspection. 
The  earth,  with  all  its  productions,  animate  and  inani- 
mate,— the  rocks  and  minerals  in  its  bowels, — the  plants, 
so  varied  in  their  form  and  qualities,  from  the  micro- 
scopic parasite  to  the  mighty  oak  of  the  forest,  which 
are  spread  profusely  over  its  surface, — the  insects,  the 
reptiles,  the  birds  and  beasts  with  which  it  teems — and 


OMNIPRESENCE    OF   GOD.  57 

man,  the  lord  of  them  all,  every  one  of  them,  individu- 
ally, is  continually  in  His  view.  He  pervades  every 
atom  of  matter,  and  surveys  every  movement  of  tlte  liv- 
ing principle,  and  of  the  mental  powers  with  which  He 
has  respectively  endowed  the  various  orders  of  organic 
beings.  Let  this  view  be  extended  to  other  worlds. 
Whatever  exists,  either  of  matter,  of  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal life,  or  of  rational  powers,  in  the  sun,  and  in  the 
planets,  and,  beyond  their  wide  orbit,  in  the  suns,  and 
systems,  and  interminable  groups  of  suns  and  systems  of 
which  the  universe  is  composed,  is  penetrated,  beheld, 
recognised,  and  individually  distinguished,  by  the  All- 
pervading  Mind. 

How  beautifully,  and  feelingly,  does  the  Psalmist  ex- 
press the  sentiment  to  which  this  view  of  the  Divine 
Being  gives  rise  in  the  devout  heart  : — u  Whither  shall 
I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven — thou  art  there  ! 
if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell — behold,  thou  art  there  !  If  I 
take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  sea  ;  even  there,  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me  !  If  I  say,  surely  the 
darkness  shall  cover  me  ;  even  the  night  shall  be  light 
about  me."  This  sense  of  the  Divine  presence,  if 
deeply  and  habitually  cherished,  must  produce  a  salutary 
effect  on  the  character.  When  we  know  and  feel  that 
the  eye  of  the  holy  God  is  upon  us,  our  mind  is  struck 
with  solemn  awe  ;  and  should  unhallowed  thoughts  in- 
trude, we  are  sensible  that  they  are  unworthy  of  the 
presence  in  which  we  stand,  and  inconsistent  with  those 
aspirations  after  the  Divine  favor,  which  our  relation  to 
Him  inspires.  Should  the  temptation  become,  notwith- 
standing, so  strong  as  to  incline  us  to  some  action  of 
moral  turpitude,  the  half-formed  design  is  checked,  by 
the  conviction,  that  the  All-seeing  Eye  is  upon  us,  and 
with  just  indignation  we  cast  the  thought  away  from  us, 
inwardly  exclaiming,  u  How  can  I  do  this  great  wicked- 
ness, and  sin  against  God  !" 

This  salutary  effect  of  a  belief  in  the  Divine  omni- 
presence, is  but  too  seldom  realized  in  actual  practice. 


58  OMNIPRESENCE    OF   GOD. 

It  is -held,  almost  universally,  as  a  speculative  doctrine; 
but  how  few  really  adopt  it  as  a  rule  of  life.  Melan- 
choly experience  assures  us,  that  the  heart  does  not 
often  receive  very  deep  impressions  from  abstract  views, 
and  is  not  easily  awakened  and  animated  by  the  specu- 
lations of  the  closet.  It  will  be  our  wisdom  to  make  use 
of  the  various  means,  which  Providence  has  bestowed  on 
us,  for  counteracting  this  unhappy  propensity  to  separate 
speculation  from  practice ;  and  among  these,  there  is 
none  so  effectual  as  frequent  and  fervent  prayer.  An 
apostle  exhorts  us  to  "pray  without  ceasing;"  by  which 
he  doubtless  means,  not  that  we  should  be  constantly  on 
our  knees,  but  that  we  should  cultivate  a  continual  sense 
of  the  presence  of  our  heavenly  Father  in  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life, — and  begin,  carry  on,  and  end  every  thing, 
by  casting  ourselves  on  His  protection  and  blessing.  By 
this  prayerful  spirit  we  shall  learn  to  see  God  in  every 
thing.  If  we  walk  abroad,  whether  in  the  full  blaze  of 
day,  or  when,  through  the  curtain  of  night,  we  behold  the 
hosts  of  heaven  shining  in  their  brightness,  we  shall  turn 
our  thoughts  to  that  Eternal  Being  who  clothed  the  earth 
in  beauty,  and  "ever  busy,  wheels  the  rolling  spheres." 
If  we  retire  to  the  bosom  of  our  families,  and  in  the  kind 
attentions  and  soothing  endearments  of  domestic  life, 
feel  our  hearts  overflowing  with  a  tender  delight,  we 
shall  not  fail  to  remember  from  whose  hand  we  derived 
the  blessing,  and  to  whose  paternal  care  we  are  indebted 
for  its  continuance.  If,  in  the  duties  of  active  life,  we 
find  our  labors  of  love  crowned  with  success,  and  our 
bosom  expand  with  the  glow  of  gratified  benevolence, 
we  shall  not  forget  that  it  is  the  hand  of  our  unseen  Fa- 
ther which  has  directed  and  blessed  our  efforts  ;  and  a 
Father's  smile  which  cheers  and  elevates  our  soul.  And 
when  the  rod  of  affliction  is  upon  us, — when  the  loss  of 
worldly  possessions  oppresses  our  spirits,  or  a  more  cruel 
calamity  has  visited  us,  in  the  death  of  some  beloved  rel- ' 
ative  or  friend  ;  or  when  we  ourselves  are  stretched  upon 
our  death-bed,  with  our  weeping  family  around  us,  even 
then, the  consolations  of  religion  will  lend  their  balm  ;  and 
casting  our  care  on  Him  who  careth  for  us,  and  finding 


ADAPTATION  OF   ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES.  59 

refuge  in  the  Rock  of  Ages,  we  shall  learn  to  bless  the 
hand  which  inflicts  the  wound. 


THIRD  WEEK— MONDAY. 

ADAPTATION  OF  ORGANIZED  EXISTENCES  TO  THE  TROPICAL 
REGIONS. 

ALMOST  every  country  has  its  winter,  as  well  as  the 
other  seasons  of  the  year,  differing  materially,  however, 
in  different  parts,  and  influenced  not  merely  by  its  posi- 
tion in  respect  of  latitude,  but  by  various  other  circum- 
stances which  affect  the  climate  generally, — such  as  ele- 
vation above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  neighborhood  of 
mountains,  of  forests,  or  of  the  ocean,  the  prevalence  of 
periodical  or  constant  winds,  and  other  tropical  causes. 
Now,  the  observation  which  applies  to  climate,  taken  on 
the  average,  applies  with  equal  truth  to  this  uninviting 
season,  namely,  that  there  is,  even  during  its  rigors,  a 
remarkable  adaptation  of  the  weather  to  the  condition 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life  to  the  weather.  The  tempera- 
ture is  admirably  modified,  and  the  various  meteorologi- 
cal changes  are  wisely  regulated,  so  as  to  correspond 
with  the  other  seasons,  and  to  be  suited  to  the  kind  of 
organized  existences  which  are  to  be  found  within  the 
range  of  these  natural  operations  ;  or,  what  comes  to  the 
same  thing,  these  organized  existences  have  been  so 
framed,  as  to  correspond  in  their  nature  and  habits  with 
the  qualities  of  the  weather. 

In  tropical  climates,  there  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be 
any  winter,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  is  understood, 
with  reference  to  the  other  divisions  of  the  earth  ;  yet, 
even  here,  there  is  a  period  which  possesses  some  of  its 
distinctive  characteristics.  Under  the  equator,  indeed, 
and  in  the  adjoining  regions,  there  may  be  said  to  be,  in 


60  ADAPTATION   OF    ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES 

respect  of  temperature,  two  winters  in  the  year, — the 
one,  when  the  sun  visits  the  tropic  of  Capricorn  ;  and 
the  other,  when  he  looks  down  on  our  temperate  climes 
with  the  smiles  of  summer,  from  the  tropic  of  Cancer. 
Within  the  vast  zone,  bounded  by  the  tropics,  the  climate 
is  peculiar,  not  only  on  account  of  the  extreme  heat,  but 
on  account  of  the  trade-winds,  the  monsoons,  and  peri- 
odical droughts  by  which  it  is  distinguished.  These 
phenomena,  which  are  very  various  in  their  periods  and 
extent,  being  much  affected  by  the  particular  circum- 
stances of  their  geographical  position,  wonderfully  har- 
monize during  the  various  seasons  of  the  year,  so  as  to 
render  them,  in  each  region,  speaking  generally,  con- 
ducive to  the  salubrity  of  the  climate  ;  and  the  plants 
and  animals  which  exist  in  these  regions,  are,  at  the  same 
time,  with  surprising  nicety,  adapted  to  their  respective 
peculiarities.  This,  would  our  space  admit,  might  be 
interestingly  exemplified  by  a  detail  of  particulars  ;  but, 
at  present,  I  must  be  content  to  state,  in  general,  that 
there  are  contrivances  and  adaptations  which  secure  both 
plants  and  animals  from  the  hurtful  effects  of  the  changes 
of  temperature,  of  moisture,  of  violent  and  incessant  rain, 
and  of  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun, — so  striking  and  ob- 
vious, as  to  challenge  attention  from  the  most  careless 
observer.  In  this  fervid  climate,  the  soil  requires  no 
lengthened  rest  to  recruit  its  powers  ;  nor  do  its  vegeta- 
ble products  need  to  sleep  for  months  in  the  bud  or  in 
the  root.  Under  a  long  drought,  indeed,  they  languish 
and  decay  ;  and  this  may,  in  fact,  be  considered  as  their 
period  of  winter,  although  it  does  not  correspond  with 
ours  as  regards  the  season  of  the  year,  or  various  other 
particulars  ;  but  no  sooner  does  the  equinoctial  monsoon 
or  the  solstitial  rain  pour  its  refreshing  streams  on  the 
surface  of  the  parched  earth,  than  all  nature  revives. 
Mr.  Elphinstone,  in  his  account  of  Cabul,  after  graphi- 
cally describing  the  appearances  at  the  commencement 
of  the  monsoon  in  India,  consisting  of  an  incessant  pour- 
ing of  rain,  amidst  constant  peals  of  thunder,  and  the  most 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning,  attended  with  violent  blasts  of 
wind,  proceeds  to  say, — "  This  lasts  for  some  days,  after 


TO  THE   TROPICAL   REGIONS.  61 

which  the  sky  clears,  and  discovers  the  face  of  nature 
changed  as  by  enchantment.  Before  the  storm,  the  fields 
were  parched  up  ;  and,  except  in  the  beds  of  the  rivers, 
scarce  a  blade  of  vegetation  was  to  be  seen  ;  the  clear- 
ness of  the  sky  was  not  interrupted  by  a  single  cloud, 
but  the  atmosphere  was  loaded  with  dust,  which  was 
sufficient  to  render  distant  objects  dim  as  in  a  mist,  and 
to  make  the  sun  appear  dull  and  discolored  till  he  at- 
tained a  considerable  elevation ;  a  parching  wind  blew 
like  a  blast  from  a  furnace,  and  heated  wood,  iron,  and 
every  solid  material,  even  in  the  shade  ;  and  immediately 
before  the  monsoon,  this  wind  had  been  succeeded  by 
still  more  sultry  calms.  But  when  the  first  violence  of 
the  storm  is  over,  the  whole  earth  is  covered  with  a  sud- 
den but  luxuriant  verdure  ;  the  rivers  are  full  and  tran- 
quil ;  the  air  is  pure  and  delicious  ;  the  sky  is  varied, 
and  embellished  with  clouds." 

This  change,  from  what  may  be  termed  a  tropical 
winter,  though  arising  from  an  excess  of  heat  instead  of 
cold,  to  all  the  beauty  and  luxuriance  of  spring,  proves, 
without  any  detail,  that  a  constitution  has  been  given  to 
tropical  plants,  adapted  to  their  situation  and  circum- 
stances, and  sufficiently  marks  the  peculiar  wisdom  of 
the  arrangement  as  regards  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Let 
it  be  remarked,  too,  that  the  monsoon  takes  place  pre- 
cisely at  the  very  time  when,  but  for  this  change,  the 
heat  would  have  become  excessive  and  intolerable.  It 
occurs  at  the  period  when  the  sun  is  approaching  his 
zenith  in  that  parallel,  and  would  have  darted  his  vertical 
rays  on  the  earth  with  unmitigated  fierceness,  were  not 
a  providential  hand  to  interpose  a  veil  of  clouds,  and 
cause  them  to  pour  forth  their  refreshing  stores.  This 
change  is  not  the  less  admirable,  that  it  is  produced  by 
the  operation  of  known  and  uniform  laws  ;  and,  assuredly, 
the  wise  adjustment,and  balancing  of  the  great  mechanical 
powers  of  Nature,  is  no  unequivocal  proof  of  Divine 
agency. 

On  turning  to  the  animal  productions  within  the  tropics, 
we  discover  similar  marks  of  beneficent  design  in  the 
adaptation  of  their  natures  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
i.  6  vn. 


62          ADAPTATION   OF   ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES 

climate.  M.  Lacordaire,*  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Kirby, 
[in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise,]  gives  a  striking  account 
of  the  state  of  animated  nature  in  Brazil.  The  great 
rains  begin  to  fall  in  that  country  about  the  middle  of 
September,  when  all  nature  seems  to  awake  from  its 
periodical  repose  ;  vegetation  resumes  a  more  lively  tint ; 
the  greater  part  of  plants  renew  their  leaves ;  and  the 
insects  begin  to  appear.  In  October,  the  rains  are  rather 
more  frequent,  and  with  them  the  insects  ;  but  it  is  not 
till  towards  the  middle  of  November,  when  the  rainy 
season  is  definitely  set  in,  that  all  the  families  seem  sud- 
denly to  develope  themselves  ;  and  this  general  impulse, 
which  all  nature  seems  to  receive,  continues  augmenting 
till  the  middle  of  January,  when  it  attains  its  acme.  The 
forests  present,  then,  an  aspect  of  movement  and  life, 
of  which  our  woods  in  Europe  can  give  no  idea.  During 
part  of  the  day, we  hear  a  vast  and  uninterrupted  hum,  in 
which  the  deafening  cry  of  the  treehopper  prevails,  and 
you  cannot  take  a  step,  or  touch  a  leaf,  without  putting 
insects  to  flight.  At  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  the  heat 
has  become  almost  insupportable,  and  all  animated  nature 
becomes  torpid  ;  the  noise  diminishes  ;  the  insects  and 
other  animals  disappear,  and  are  seen  no  more  till  the 
evening.  Then,  when  the  atmosphere  is  again  cool,  to 
the  morning  species  succeed  others,  whose  office  it  is  to 
embellish  the  nights  of  the  torrid  zone.  I  am  speaking 
of  the  glowworms  and  fire -flies  ;  whilst  the  former,  is- 
suing by  myriads  from  their  retreats,  overspread  the  plants 
and  shrubs, — the  latter,  crossing  each  other  in  all  direc- 
tions, weave  in  the  air,  as  it  were,  a  luminous  web,  the 
light  of  which  they  diminish  or  augment  at  pleasure.  This 
brilliant  illumination  only  ceases  when  the  night  gives 
place  to  the  day. 

These  observations  as  to  the  effects  of  climate  within 
the  tropics,  harmonizing  as  they  do  with  what  occurs  in 
other  regions  of  the  earth,  tend  to  show  what  surprising 
attention  has  been  paid  by  the  great  Creator,  in  the  adap- 
tation of  organized  existences,  both  vegetable  and  animal, 

*  Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  20  Juin,  1830,  p.  193. 


TO  TEMPERATE  AND  POLAR  CLIMATES.  63 

and  more  especially  the  latter,  with  its  instincts  and  habits, 
to  their  geographical  position,  and  what  skill  has  been 
employed  in  diffusing  life  and  enjoyment  throughout  the 
world.  Facts  of  a  similar  kind,  will  meet  us  every  where 
in  the  course  of  our  inquiry. 


THIRD  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

ADAPTATION  OF  ORGANIZED  EXISTENCES  TO  TEMPERATE  AND 
POLAR  CLIMATES. 

OUR  attention  was  yesterday  directed  to  those  benefi- 
cent arrangements,  by  which  organized  existences,  within 
the  tropics,  are  adapted  to  their  geographical  position. 
The  same  observation  may  be  extended  to  all  the  other 
regions  of  the  earth,  and  the  further  the  subject  is  inves- 
tigated, the  more  shall  we  find  reason  to  admire  and  adore 
the  Divine  wisdom,  so  variously,  and  every  where  so  be- 
neficently, displayed. 

Among  a  vast  profusion  of  instances  which  might  be 
selected,  I  will  take  the  history  of  the  camel,  which  re- 
commends itself  to  our  notice  at  present,  as  being  pecu- 
liarly appropriate,  in  our  descent  to  climates  of  a  lower 
temperature,  because  the  range  of  this  animal  is  extend- 
ed from  the  tropical  into  the  temperate  regions  ;  and, 
because,  within  that  range,  its  conformation  and  habits 
are  curiously  and  exclusively  suited  to  a  peculiar  locali- 
ty. The  camel,  including,  of  course,  the  dromedary, 
which  is  only  a  variety  of  the  species,  is  an  animal  dis- 
tinctly formed  by  the  Author  of  Nature,  to  subsist,  and 
to  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  man,  in  the  parched  and 
sandy  wildernesses,  which,  in  the  vast  regions  of  the  East, 
stretch  from  the  tropics  far  into  the  temperate  zone.  A 
description,  abridged  from  Goldsmith,  may  suffice  for  our 
purpose. 

The  camel  is  the  most  temperate  of  all  animals,  and 


64          ADAPTATION   OF   ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES 

it  can  continue  to  travel,  for  several  days,  without  drink- 
ing. In  those  vast  deserts,  where  the  earth  is  very  dry 
and  sandy  ;  where  there  are  neither  birds  nor  beasts,  nei- 
ther insects  nor  vegetables  ;  where  nothing  is  to  be  seen 
but  hills  of  sand,  and  heaps  of  stones  ;  there  the  camel  trav- 
els, posting  forward,  without  requiring  either  drink  or 
pasture,  and  is  often  found  six  or  seven  days  without  any 
sustenance  whatever.  Its  feet  are  formed  for  travelling 
on  sand,  and  are  utterly  unfit  for  moist  or  marshy  places. 

In  Arabia,  and  those  countries  where  the  camel  is 
turned  to  useful  purposes,  it  is  considered  as  a  sacred 
animal,  without  whose  help  the  natives  could  neither 
subsist,  traffic,  nor  travel.  Its  milk  makes  a  part  of  their 
nourishment  ;  they  feed  upon  its  flesh,  particularly  when 
young  ;  they  clothe  themselves  with  its  hair  ;  and,  if 
they  fear  an  invading  enemy,  their  camels  serve  them  in 
flight ;  and,  in  a  single  day,  they  are  known  to  travel  a 
hundred  miles.  Thus,  by  means  of  the  camel,  an  Ara- 
bian finds  safety  in  his  deserts.  All  the  armies  on  earth 
might  be  lost  in  pursuit  of  a  flying  squadron  of  this  coun- 
try, mounted  on  their  camels,  and  taking  refuge  in  soli- 
tudes, where  nothing  interposes  to  stop  their  flight,  or  to 
force  them  to  await  the  invader.  There  are,  here  and 
there,  in  the  dreary  wastes  inhabited  by  the  Arabian,  found 
spots  of  verdure  which,  though  remote  from  each  other, 
are,  in  a  manner,  approximated  by  the  labor  and  industry 
of  the  camel.  Thus  the  Arab  lives  independent  and 
tranquil  amidst  his  solitudes  ;  and,  instead  of  considering 
the  vast  wilds  spread  around  him  as  a  restraint  upon  his 
happiness,  he  is,  by  experience,  taught  to  regard  them 
as  the  ramparts  of  his  freedom.  Who  does  not  admire 
in  this  remarkable  instance,  the  beneficent  intentions  of 
Providence,  in  the  structure  and  habits  of  an  animal  so 
exclusively  adapted  to  regions  of  heat,  sterility,  and 
drought  ? 

In  the  temperate  regions,  similar  adaptations  to  the  sea- 
son of  scarcity  are  familiar  to  the  student  of  nature  ;  but, 
as  it  is  in  this  zone  of  moderate  climate  that  we  dwell, 
and  from  it,  therefore,  that  our  illustrations  will,  in  the 
following  pages,  be  chiefly  taken,  I  shall  pass  to  its  ex- 


TO  TEMPERATE  AND  POLAR  CLIMATES.  65 

treme  verge,  towards  the  polar  circles,  where  the  coun- 
tries, although  they  still  bear  the  geographical  title  of 
temperate,  have  ceased,  in  reality,  to  deserve  it,  and  are 
rapidly  tending  to  an  extreme,  in  which  organized  beings 
are  no  longer  to  be  found.  The  Laplander,  the  Green- 
lander,  the  inhabitants  of  Nova  Zembla  and  Labrador, 
although,  in  winter,  they  suffer  many  privations,  greater, 
than  are  experienced  in  our  more  favored  climate,  are 
yet  furnished  with  many  alleviations,  which  prove,  that 
their  comfort  and  enjoyments  have  not  been  forgotten 
by  Him, who  appointed  the  bounds  of  their  habitation. 

Some  inhabitants  of  these  severe  regions, have  receiv- 
ed from  a  bountiful  Providence  the  gift  of  the  rein-deer; 
which  is  not  less  adapted  to  their  wants  than  the  camel 
is  to  those  of  the  Arab.  It  furnishes  them  with  the  means 
of  rapid  and  easy  conveyance  from  place  to  place  ;  while 
its  skin  supplies  them  with  clothing  for  their  bodies,  and 
covering  for  their  tents,  its  flesh  is  their  necessary  food, 
and  its  milk  their  delicious  drink.  Their  long  winter 
night,  for  it  is  one  uninterrupted  night  during  several 
months,  is  cheered  by  a  bright  twilight,  and  the  brilliant 
and  busy  coruscations  of  that  wonderful  meteor,  the  au- 
rora borealis  ;  and,  when  they  retire  to  their  humble 
dwellings,  they  find  at  once, light  and  heat  in  the  blaze  of 
the  oil  abundantly  extracted  from  the  fish,  which  their 
industry  has  drawn  from  the  neighboring  seas. 

In  Greenland,  and  the  countries  bordering  on  Baffin's 
Bay,  where  the  rein-deer  is  but  seldom,  if  at  all,  domes- 
ticated, the  inhabitants  have  other  means  of  supplying, 
though  less  comfortably,  the  necessaries  of  life  which  this 
useful  animal  provides  to  the  northern  inhabitants  of 
Europe.  They  build  their  winter  huts  of  snow,  within 
which  they  light  their  fires,  without  danger  of  its  melt- 
ing, so  long  as  the  intensity  of  the  cold  prevails  ;  and, 
within  these  apparently  miserable  habitations,  they  ex- 
perience more  enjoyment  than  the  natives  of  genial  climes 
can  easily  conceive  possible.  The  frost  preserves  from 
corruption  the  animal  food  they  have  stored  ;  and,  so 
long  as  their  provisions  remain,  they  seem  to  have  no 
great  care  for  the  future.  Having  few  wants,  and  little 
6* 


66          BALANCE  PRESERVED  IN  THE 

forethought,  they  spend,  from  day  to  day,  a  contented, 
though  a  degraded  life  ;  and  the  goodness  of  the  great 
Creator  towards  them,  appears  in  this,  that  if  their  cir- 
cumstances preclude  them  from  the  enjoyment  of  many 
luxuries,  or  even  conveniences,  they  are  happily  insen- 
sible of  the  privation  ;  and,  if  they  are  destitute  of  high 
intellectual  pleasures,  they  are  at  least  not  subjected  to 
the  miseries  arising  from  that  acute  sensibility,  with 
which  the  cultivation  of  the  mental  powers  is  frequently 
attended. 

Were  we  to  inquire  into  the  condition  and  habits  of 
the  lower  animals  which  inhabit  these  frozen  regions,  we 
should  be  struck  with  similar  wise  adaptations.  Of  the 
thick  and  shaggy  fur  which  covers  their  bodies,  so  ad- 
mirably adapted  both  to  preserve  the  animal  heat,  and 
exclude  the  external  cold,  increasing  in  warmth  with  the 
increasing  rigor  of  the  season  ;  of  the  instinct  which  in- 
duces some  to  migrate  to  more  genial  regions,  and  others 
to  retire  to  caves  and  burrows,  where  they  spend  the  long 
and  dreary  winter  months  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  or 
of  partial  lethargy  ;  and  of  other  matters  connected  with 
the  season  of  winter  in  that  inhospitable  climate,  which 
afford,  even  in  apparently  neglected  corners  of  the  world, 
unequivocal  proofs  of  beneficent  design,  we  shall  after- 
wards have  occasion  to  speak.  Meanwhile,  this  slight 
sketch  seems  sufficient  to  show,  that,  in  every  climate, 
even  the  dreariest  season  of  the  year  has  its  uses,  its 
adaptations,  and  its  enjoyments. 


THIRD  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE  BALANCE  PRESERVED  IN  THE  ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE 
CREATION. 

EVERY  naturalist  must  have  observed,  that  there  is  a 
tendency  in  the  reproductive  powers  bestowed  by  the 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE  CREATION.       67 

Creator,  to  overstock  the  world,  so  that,  if  any  one  spe- 
cies of  animals  were  permitted  to  produce  its  kind  with- 
out check,  the  whole  earth  would,  in  process  of  time,  be 
entirely  overrun  by  that  species  alone,  to  such  an  ex- 
tent, that,  by  and  by,  there  would  not  be  room  for  the 
vegetable  to  spread,  or  the  animal  to  move.  Among  liv- 
ing creatures,  a  remarkable  example  of  this  power  may 
be  taken  from  the  rabbit.  It  has  been  calculated  that, 
from  a  pair  of  these  animals,  may  proceed,  in  four  years, 
a  progeny  of  nearly  a  million  and  a  half.  The  common 
grass  is  an  example  of  a  similar  kind  among  vegetables, 
a  single  plant  of  which  would,  in  a  very  few  years,  under 
favorable  circumstances,  clothe  a  whole  island  like  Bri- 
tain. These  are  extreme  cases  ;  but,  if  any  person  would 
take  the  trouble  of  estimating  the  productive  powers  of 
any  one  kind  of  plant  or  animal,  even  the  least  remarka- 
ble for  fecundity,  he  would  soon  satisfy  himself,  that  the 
fact  is  not  overstated. 

This  excessive  power  of  reproduction,  as  in  one  sense 
it  may  be  called,  seems  to  be  a  necessary  part  of  the  wise 
economy  of  Nature  ;  because  it  always  enables  organized 
existences  to  multiply  their  species,  up  to  the  extent 
in  which  provision  is  made  for  their  subsistence  ;  but 
then,  it  would  have  occasioned  the  most  injurious  conse- 
quences, were  not  checks  provided,  by  which  each  kind 
might  be  kept  within  its  proper  bounds.  These  checks 
are  numerous  and  effectual.  The  most  remarkable  of 
them,  among  the  living  tribes,  is  the  existence  of  pre- 
daceous  animals.  One  creature  preys  upon  another,  and 
thus,  provision  is  made,  by  a  remarkable  contrivance, 
which,  at  first  sight,  appears  cruel,  for  the  existence  of 
more  numerous  species,  and  for  the  more  easy  death  of 
individuals,  which  wrould  otherwise  so  press  upon  the 
means  of  subsistence,  as  to  drag  out  a  lingering  and  mis- 
erable life,  till  they  perish  by  famine  ;  while  another 
instance  of  providential  care  in  this  provision  is,  that 
dead  bodies  are  consumed  and  removed,  which  would 
otherwise  infest  the  air  with  noisome  and  pestilential 
effluvia,  in  the  process  of  decomposition. 

But  what  has  led  me,  at  present,  to  advert  to  this  sub- 


68          BALANCE  PRESERVED  IN  THE 

ject,  is  the  effect  which  winter  also  produces  in  checking 
an  over  production  of  organized  beings.  To  what  extent 
its  severity,  and  the  scanty  subsistence  it  affords,  are 
destructive  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  estimate  ;  but  that  it  is  considerable,  cannot  be 
denied.  Notwithstanding  the  various  and  astonishing 
means  made  use  of  by  a  wise  Creator,  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  organized  beings  during  the  inclemency  of  win- 
ter, it  is  certainly  true,  that  this  season  does  not  pass 
without  a  great  expense  of  life.  Violent  storms,  severe 
frosts,  sudden  inundations,  deep  snows,  scarcity  of  food, 
the  tracks  of  animals  in  the  new-fallen  snow,  which 
guide  the  hunter  to  their  lair, — all  these  are  so  many 
means  of  destruction  to  numerous  individuals  of  various 
tribes  of  animals,  and  some  of  them, means  of  destruction 
to  different  kinds  of  vegetables  also. 

Now,  that  the  checks  we  have  mentioned,  combined 
with  others,  are  most  wisely  adapted  for  promoting  the 
benevolent  intentions  of  Providence,  in  preserving  a  due 
balance  in  Nature,  may  be  inferred  from  various  consid- 
erations. Of  these,  I  shall  mention  one,  which  is  suf- 
ficiently striking.  Man  has  frequently  attempted,  for 
his  own  purposes,  to  interfere  with  the  balance  which 
Providence  has  thus  established,  often  wisely  and  suc- 
cessfully, the  higher  species  being  destined  to  supplant 
the  lower  ;  but  when  injudiciously,  not  with  impunity. 
The  following  examples  of  the  latter,  which  I  extract 
from  a  note  in  Mr.  Sharon  Turner's  '  History  of  the  Crea- 
tion,'may  suffice  as  an  illustration.  <c  Farmers  destroy 
moles,  because  the  hillocks  they  make  break  the  level 
surface  ;  but  they  have  found  worms  increase  so  much, 
when  the  moles  were  gone,  as  to  wish  they  had  not  mo- 
lested them.  Moles  live  on  worms,  insects,  snails,  frogs, 
and  larvae.  The  farmers  on  a  nobleman's  estate  in  France, 
found  the  moles'  disturbances  of  the  earth  such  a  good 
husbandry  to  it,  as  to  solicit  their  landlords  not  to  have 
them  killed.— (Bull,  t/ri.,  1829,  p.  334.)  So  toads  are 
found  to  keep  down  the  ants.  Mice  have  increased  in 
barns  where  owls  have  been  shot.  The  blue  jay  was 
destroyed  in  America  for  eating  the  pease ;  but  the  pea- 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE  CREATION.       69 

grub,  which  it  fed  on,  became  more  destructive  after- 
ward. A  gentleman  shot  a  magpie,  to  save  his  cherries, 
but  found  its  craw  as  full  as  it  could  be  crammed  with 
the  large  bluebottle  flies,  that  lay  their  eggs  in  meat. 
The  fox  renders  considerable  service  to  man,  by  the 
quantity  of  rats,  field-mice,  frogs,  toads,  lizards,  and 
snakes,  which  he  destroys."* 

These  are  instances  of  the  kind  of  balance  which  is 
preserved  in  the  animal  world,  by  means  of  predaceous 
animals,  and  prove  that,  by  removing  one  cause  of  an- 
noyance, we  may  sometimes  only  give  room  to  another 
of  a  more  grievous  nature  ;  and  that  we  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  cautious  how  we  do  violence  to  Nature.  There 
can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  judicious  interference 
of  man  was  taken  into  account  in  the  establishment  of 
the  order  of  Nature  ;  and  that  his  employing  his  rational 
powers  for  this  purpose,  is  one  of  the  exercises  by  which 
Providence  intended  to  call  forth  his  ingenuity,  and  re- 
ward his  industry.  It  is  not  merely  as  a  curse,  that,  in 
the  field  of  the  sluggard,  "thistles  grow  instead  of  wheat, 
and  cockle  instead  of  barley  ;" — it  is  also  as  a  warning 
against  sloth,  and  as  a  stimulus  to  exertion.  So  it  is 
with  regard  to  industrious,  intelligent,  and  virtuous  habits 
of  every  kind  ;  and,  with  reference  to  the  agriculturist, 
while  the  neglect  of  such  habits  is  punished  by  an  accu- 
mulation of  noxious  weeds  and  vermin,  and  a  deficiency 
of  useful  produce,  the  very  reverse  is  the  case  when  these 
habits  are  cultivated  ; — and  so,  changing  the  terms,  with 
every  other  profession. 

Of  the  salutary  effect  of  a  judicious  use  of  the  power 
which  Providence  has  intrusted  us  with,  of  extirpating 
noxious  animals,  we  have  a  remarkable  instance,  in  the 
total  extinction  of  the  wolf  from  Great  Britain,  chiefly 
through  the  energetic  measures  adopted  by  two  of  our 
kings,  Edgar  I.  and  Edward  I.  The  importance  which 
we  ought  to  attach  to  the  removal  of  this  nuisance,  will 
be  better  estimated  on  reading  the  official  account  which 
was  given  in  the  public  papers,  of  the  devastations  com- 

*  Turner,  note,  p.  350,  quoting  from  Howit's  Brit.  Preserv. 


70          BALANCE  PRESERVED  IN  THE 

mitted  by  wolves,  in  the  year  1823,  in  the  province  of 
Livonia  alone.  They  are  stated  to  have  devoured  1841 
horses,  1243  foals,  1807  horned  cattle,  733  calves, 
15,182  sheep,  726  lambs,  2545  goats,  183  kids,  4190 
swine,  312  sucking  pigs,  703  dogs,  673  geese. 

This  destruction  is  remarkable,  and  it  is  only  a  single 
example  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  power  by  which 
the  excess  of  the  reproductive  principle  is  restrained,  in 
all  the  various  races  of  living  beings,  from  the  microscopic 
insect  to  the  huge  elephant.  The  proof  thus  afforded 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  great  Creator,  is  conspicuous  and 
preeminent ;  the  balance  of  Nature  is  preserved  ;  one 
species,  taken  on  the  average,  does  not  unduly  encroach 
upon  another  ;  a  greater  quantity  of  living  beings  have 
the  means  of  being  nourished,  and  are  therefore  produced  ; 
and  the  good  of  the  whole  is  most  strikingly  consulted. 

One  condition,  which  the  due  balance  of  the  repro- 
ductive powers  involves,  is,  that  the  most  useful  species 
shall  be  able  not  only  to  maintain  their  ground,  but  to 
preponderate  over  all  the  rest.  This  is  instanced  in  the 
case  of  vegetables,  in  the  prolific  power  already  noticed, 
as  bestowed  upon  the  common  grasses  on  which  so  many 
animals,  and  especially  those  destined  for  the  use  of  man, 
are  formed  to  feed.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this  quality,  with 
which  man,  for  his  own  purposes,  finds  it  necessary  fre- 
quently to  war,  that  the  soft  green  carpet  is  so  univer- 
sally spread  over  hill  and  valley,  on  which  our  herds  and 
flocks  graze  so  luxuriously  by  day,  and  repose  so  com- 
fortably by  night.  But  then,  it  was  the  wise  intention 
of  Providence,  that  this  mastery,  gained  by  the  prolific 
power,  should  not  be  of  such  extent  as  to  annihilate  any 
of  the  species  of  plants  formed  by  His  creative  wisdom. 
There  are,  therefore,  most  surprising  and  ingenious  con- 
trivances, by  which  this  power  is  so  far  counteracted  as 
to  serve  the  end  in  view.  These  will  fall  more  properly 
to  be  considered  in  another  season,  and  it  is  enough,  at 
present,  merely  to  advert  to  them. 

In  saying,  however,  that  the  most  useful  vegetable  pro- 
ductions are  usually  the  most  prolific,  I  must  not  forget 
to  make  an  exception,  which  embraces  a  great  variety  of 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE   CREATION.  71 

those  plants  that  are  cultivated  by  the  farmer  and  the  gar- 
dener, for  the  use  of  man.  All  the  cereal,  leguminous, 
potato,  and  cabbage  tribes  are  of  this  kind,  and  seem  to 
be  intended,  along  with  many  other  means  in  the  econo- 
my of  Providence,  to  verify  the  sentence  so  early  pro- 
nounced on  our  sinning  race,  that  in  the  sweat  of  their 
face  they  must  eat  bread.  It  is,  indeed,  in  this  view,  a 
most  remarkable  provision,  that,  while  the  means  of  subsis- 
tence are  so  amply  provided  for  the  lower  animals,  man 
is  left  to  procure  his  food  by  the  exercise  of  his  own 
mental  and  bodily  powers,  in  the  labors  of  cultivation  ; 
and,  for  this  purpose,  finds  it  necessary  to  counteract  the 
natural  tendencies  of  vegetation,  as  well  as  to  control  the 
habits,  and  subdue  the  propensities  of  the  brute  creation. 
Among  animals,  the  balance  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering,is  kept  up  in  a  way  different  from  that  which 
takes  place  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  though  in  some  re- 
spects analogous  to  it.  Here,  too,  the  powers  of  repro- 
duction are  with  obvious  design  unequally  distributed, 
being  most  copiously  bestowed  on  those  species  which 
are  either  most  useful  to  man,  or  most  harmless  in  their 
own  nature,  or  least  capable  of  defending  themselves. 
Were  not  this  the  case,  animals  of  prey,  whose  species 
are  numerous,  and  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  classes  of 
animated  nature,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  would 
soon  destroy  the  more  helpless  kinds,  and  reduce  the  va- 
rious orders  of  beings  to  a  few  of  nearly  equal  strength 
and  prowess  in  the  various  genera.  Among  beasts,  the 
lion  and  tiger,  for  example,  would  desolate  the  tropical 
regions  ;  the  wolf  would  reign  paramount  in  the  temperate 
zone  ;  and  the  arctic  bear  would  overrun  the  regions 
bordering  on  the  poles,  till  nothing  would  be  left  for  them 
to  devour  but  creatures  of  their  own  species.  Among 
birds,  the  eagle,  the  vulture,  and  the  condor,  would  each 
assert  the  terrible  powers  of  its  nature,  till  the  other  feath- 
ered tribes,  in  their  respective  localities,  had  been  exter- 
minated ;  and  as  to  fishes,  the  enormous  whale,*  and  the 

*  The  Greenland  whale  is  supposed  to  live  only  on  medusae  or  shrimps; 
but  the  cachalot,  [or  spermaceti  whale,]  and  its  varieties,  are  exceedingly 


72  ALTERNATION   OF  DAY  AND  NIGHT. 

rapacious  shark,  each  of  which  devours  the  inferior  tribes 
by  hundreds  at  a  mouthful,  would  quickly  divide  the  deso- 
lated ocean  between  them. 

The  very  fact,  therefore,  that,  notwithstanding  the  exist- 
ence of  such  formidable  enemies,  the  other  tribes  of  animat- 
ed beings  not  only  survive,  but  abound,  is  a  proof  that  the 
Author  of  Nature  has  provided  sufficient  checks  to  their 
power  and  rapacity.  Of  quadrupeds  alone,  from  800  to 
1000  species  are  known  to  exist ;  and,  as  we  descend  in 
the  scale  to  the  lower  genera,  their  species  proportionally 
increase,  till  among  the  insect  and  microscopic  tribes,  they 
become  almost  innumerable.  If  this  be  the  case  with  re- 
gard to  species,  how  would  the  mind  be  overwhelmed  with 
the  immensity  of  the  subject,  were  it  to  attempt  to  esti- 
mate the  number  of  individual  existences  in  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms.  Let  us  recognise  and  admire  the 
Designing  Mind  which  has  with  such  wonderful  skill  ad- 
justed the  balance  of  nature,  and  fitted  it  to  the  condition 
of  man  in  his  present  state.  It  is  impossible  not  to  be 
struck  with  the  analogy  which  runs  through  all  the  depart- 
ments of  organized  existence,  from  the  highest  to  the  low- 
est, in  this  as  well  as  in  other  instances.  We  see  every 
where  a  superabundant  power  of  reproduction  counteract- 
ed and  balanced, by  what  may  be  justly  called  antagonist 
powers.  Among  these  opposing  forces,  we  find  voracity 
and  famine  every  where,  excessive  heat,  and  periodical 
storms,  in  tropical  countries,  excessive  cold  during  the 
winter  of  the  temperate  and  frigid  regions,  each  in  its  own 
manner  and  its  own  place,  doing  the  necessary  work  of 
destruction. 


THIRD  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

ALTERNATION  OF  DAY  AND  NIGHT. 

THE  sun  now  remains  but  a  short  period  above  the  hori- 
zon ;  and,  even  during  that  short  period,  the  comparative 


ALTERNATION  OF   DAY  AND  NIGHT.  73 

intensity  of  his  light  and  heat  is  much  decreased.  He  is 
daily  taking  a  less  extensive  circuit  in  our  heavens  ;  and 
in  another  month  the  length  of  the  day  will  be  diminished 
by  more  than  another  hour.  Were  the  influence  of  the 
sun,  and  the  length  of  the  day,  to  continue  in  this  state, 
the  whole  organized  world,  in  the  climate  which  we  in- 
habit, would  quickly  be  destroyed.  But  the  year  will 
soon  recommence  its  annual  round  ;  and  nature  is  even 
now  preparing  for  its  coming  labors. 

The  repose  of  plants,  and  even  of  many  animals,  in 
this  dreary  season,  reminds  us  of  the  salutary  provision, 
of  a  similar  description,  which  is  made  for  the  diurnal  re- 
cruiting of  exhausted  strength  by  the  alternation  of  night 
with  day.  That  this  arrangement  is  adapted  to  the  con- 
stitution of  animal  and  vegetable  existences,  will  be  readi- 
ly admitted  ;  and,  on  examining  particulars,  we  shall  be 
confirmed  in  our  general  conclusion.  It  is  not  merely 
true, that  nature  requires  a  frequently  recurring  period  of 
rest,  but  that  the  actual  period  of  twenty-four  hours,  di- 
vided between  activity  and  repose,  is  the  best  suited  for 
this  end.  If  this  be  so,  it  implies  a  Designing  Cause  ;  for 
such  a  period  is  arbitrary  •  that  is  to  say,  no  reason  can 
be  assigned,  in  the  nature  of  things,  either  why  the  earth 
should  complete  her  daily  revolution  in  twenty-four  hours, 
or  why  animals  and  vegetables  should  require  a  season  of 
rest  in  that  precise  interval.  As  to  the  former,  no  me- 
chanical or  physical  necessity  requires,  that  our  earth 
should  complete  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  revolutions 
in  a  year.  It  might,  apparently,  move  either  faster  or 
slower,  without  the  slightest  inconvenience  to  the  system 
with  which  it  is  connected.  Jupiter  and  Saturn  revolve 
on  their  axes  each  in  ten  hours,  which,  considering  their 
bulk,  must  carry  their  equators  round  with  a  velocity 
immensely  greater  than  that  of  the  earth,  while  Mercury, 
which  is  so  much  nearer  the  sun,  and  so  much  smaller, 
has  its  day  and  night  nearly  of  the  same  length  as  our 
own. 

Now,  if  we  look  at  the  vegetable  world,  we  shall  find, 
as  already  observed,  a  remarkable  adaptation  of  this  arbi- 
trary period  of  twenty-four  hours  to  the  constitution  of 
i.  7  vn. 


74  ALTERNATION   OF   DAY  AND  NIGHT. 

its  various  productions.  In  some  plants,  indeed,  this  is 
not  so  obvious  ;  but  there  are  others,  which  clearly  show 
that  they  are  endowed  with  a  periodical  character,  cor- 
responding with  the  average  length  of  our  day.  Linnaeus 
classified  a  number  of  plants  according  to  their  time  of 
opening  and  shutting,  with  reference  to  the  hour  of  the 
day,  and  found,  that  there  are  some  which  change  their 
hour  of  opening  and  shutting  as  the  day  becomes  longer 
and  shorter,  while  there  are  others  which  do  not  seem  to 
be  affected  by  the  actual  state  of  the  light  and  heat,  but 
have  a  daily  period  of  their  own,  independent  of  these 
influences,  expanding  their  leaves,  and  closing  them,  at  a 
particular  hour,  whatever  be  the  state  of  the  weather,  or 
the  length  of  the  day.  Both  of  these  instances  prove  an 
adaptation  to  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth,  which 
could  not  be  the  effect  of  chance,  and  must,  therefore, 
have  been  the  work  of  an  Intelligent  Cause. 

This  adjustment, is  still  more  remarkable  in  the  animal 
world.  A  period  of  sleep  is  necessary  for  the  health  and 
vigor  of  living  beings  ;  and  the  alternation  of  day  and  night, 
which  actually  takes  place,  seems,  from  various  consid- 
erations, to  be  that  which  is  best  fitted  for  them ;  or,  at 
all  events,  any  very  great  deviation  from  the  arrangement 
actually  established,  would  be  prejudicial.  When  a  work- 
man retires  from  his  twelve  hours'  labor,  he  is  sufficiently 
inclined  to  take  rest ;  and,  although  it  is  possible  for  him 
to  encroach  on  the  night,  without  much  inconvenience, 
and  to  extend  his  exertions,  if  not  immoderate,  to  fifteen 
or  sixteen  hours,  a  longer  period,  without  an  interval  of 
repose,  would  incur  the  risk  of  undermining  the  constitu- 
tion. It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  time,  spent  in  sleep,  during  the  four  and  twenty 
hours,  is  of  importance  to  the  health,  both  of  body  and 
mind  ;  and  that,  if  our  day  were  extended,  for  example, 
to  the  length  of  two,  the  human  powers  would  droop  un- 
der the  prolonged  period  which  would  thus  occur  between 
the  intervals  of  rest. 

To  the  lower  animals,  also,  the  alternation  of  day  and 
night,  as  it  actually  exists,  is  wisely  adapted.  To  some 
of  these,  the  day  is  the  season  of  collecting  their  food ; 


ALTERNATION  OF  DAY  AND  NIGHT.  75 

to  others,  the  night :  but,  whatever  be  the  instincts 
which  guide  them  in  this  respect,  we  cannot  but  perceive 
that  the  adjustment  between  their  constitution  and  habits, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  period  of  light  and  darkness  on 
the  other,  is  such, as  to  show  that  the  one  bears  reference 
to  the  other,  and  to  indicate  benevolent  contrivance. 

It  is  no  valid  objection  to  this  view,  that  the  relative 
length  of  the  days  and  nights  vary,  very  considerably  in 
our  climate,  and  still  more  in  higher  latitudes ;  because, 
where  this  is  the  case,  we  find  adaptations  and  adjust- 
ments of  a  different  kind,  which,  in  some  degree,  com- 
pensate for  these  variations  ;  and  because,  except  in  re- 
gions approaching  very  near  the  poles,  the  revolution  of 
day  and  night  is  uniformly  comprised  in  twenty-four  hours  ; 
and  the  only  difference  consists  in  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  during  which  the  curtains  of  night  are  drawn, — an 
inconvenience  which  the  ingenuity  of  man  removes  by 
artificial  means,  and  to  which,the  habits  and  wants  of  the 
lower  animals,  and  of  plants,  are  wonderfully  accommo- 
dated. 

On  the  whole,  we  have  here  another  proof  of  an  Intel- 
ligent Creator,  who  has  suited  the  organized  beings  he 
has  called  into  existence,  to  the  circumstances  of  the  ma- 
terial world,  in  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  place  them. 
The  observations  of  Mr.  Whewell  on  this  subject,  to 
whose  judicious  statements  we  have  so  frequently  had 
occasion  to  refer,  are  entirely  to  the  purpose.  "  The 
hours  of  food  and  repose, "says  he,  uare  capable  of  such 
wide  modifications,  in  animals,  and,  above  all,  in  man,  by 
the  influence  of  external  stimulants  and  internal  emotions, 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish  what  portion  of  the  ten- 
dency to  such  alternations  depends  on  original  constitu- 
tion. Yet, no  one  can  doubt  that  the  inclination  of  food 
and  sleep  is  periodical,  or  can  maintain, with  any  plausi- 
bility, that  the  period  may  be  lengthened  or  shortened 
without  limit.  We  may  be  tolerably  certain, that  a  con- 
stantly recurring  period  of  forty-eight  hours,  would  be  too 
long  for  one  day  of  employment,  and  one  period  of  sleep, 
with  our  present  faculties  ;  and  all,  whose  bodies  and 
minds  are  tolerably  active,  will  probably  agree,  that,  in- 


76  SLEEP. 

dependently  of  habit,  a  perpetual  alternation  of  eight  hours 
up,  and  four  in  bed,  would  employ  the  human  powers  less 
advantageously  and  agreeably,  than  an  alternation  of  six- 
teen and  eight.  A  creature, which  could  employ  the  full 
energies  of  his  body  and  mind  uninterruptedly  for  nine 
months,  and  then  take  a  single  sleep  of  three  months, 
would  not  be  a  man." 

"This  view,"  he  afterwards  adds,  "agrees  with  the 
opinion  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  physiologists.  Thus 
Cabanis  notices  the  periodical  and  isochronous  character 
of  the  desire  to  sleep,  as  well  as  of  other  appetites.  He 
states,  also,  that  sleep  is  more  easy  and  more  salutary,  in 
proportion  as  we  go  to  rest,  and  rise  every  day  at  the  same 
hour  ;  and  observes,  that  this  periodicity  seems  to  have 
a  reference  to  the  motions  of  the  solar  system." 

All  this,  leads  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  correspond- 
ence thus  obvious  between  the  laws  of  the  material  world, 
and  the  constitution  of  man,  and  other  animals,  is  not 
fortuitous,  but  is  the  appointment  of  a  Wise  Contriver, 
and  manifests  a  designing  First  Cause. 


THIRD  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

SLEEP. 

THE  remarkable  manner  in  which  the  constitution  of 
plants  and  animals  is  adapted  to  the  length  of  the  day, 
was  yesterday  commented  on  ;  and  one  of  the  most  strik- 
ing of  these  adaptations,  is, the  provision  by  which  man, 
and  many  of  the  lower  animals,  drop  into  a  state  of  inac- 
tivity and  sweet  oblivion  during  the  night. 

The  presence  of  light,is  necessary  to  enable  creatures, 
constituted  as  we  are,  to  prosecute  useful  labors  ;  but 
constant  toil  wears  out  the  frame,  and  a  period  of  rest  is 
necessary.  There  is,  therefore,  an  arrangement  of  our 
ever-provident  Creator,  by  which  light  shall  be,  for  a 


SLEEP.  77 

time,  withdrawn  from  us,  that  we  may  be  compelled,  by 
a  natural  necessity,  to  refrain,  at  regulated  and  short  in- 
tervals, from  the  prosecution  of  labors  in  which  we  might 
otherwise  be  too  eagerly  engaged.  This  is  the  point  of 
view  in  which  the  subject  has  been  already  considered. 
Let  us  now  attend  to  the  subject  in  another  light.  Look- 
ing at  the  fact,  that  the  earth  is  made  to  revolve  on  its 
axis  once  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  that  thus  its  in- 
habitants are  deprived  of  its  light,  and  other  genial  influ- 
ences, for  nearly  the  half  of  that  time,  on  an  average, 
each  day,  What  is  the  contrivance  by  which  this  natural 
occurrence  is  rendered  agreeable  and  salutary  ?  The 
reply  is,  that  a  provision  is  made,  by  which  the  active 
powers,  both  of  body  and  mind,  are  suspended,  and  sleep 
is  induced. 

And  what  is  sleep  ?  There  is  something  very  myste- 
rious in  this  state,  considered  as  a  physiological  pheno- 
menon ;  but  this  inquiry  does  not  fall  under  our  present 
plan  ;  and,  if  it  did,  we  should  probably  find  it  difficult 
to  come  to  any  satisfactory  conclusion  as  to  its  efficient 
cause,  or  the  nature  of  the  physical  change  in  the  ner- 
vous system,  by  which  it  is  produced.  We  know  it  is  a 
fact,  in  the  constitution  of  living  beings  ;  and  this  is  all 
that  it  seems  necessary,  at  present,  to  say  on  the  subject. 
To  define  sleep,  according  to  its  actual  appearances,  is 
sufficiently  easy.  In  attending  to  our  own  experience, 
in  regard  to  its  approach  and  actual  occurrence,  we  dis- 
cover that  the  will  seems  gradually  to  become  enfeebled 
in  its  power,  over  both  the  bodily  and  mental  operations  ; 
that  the  body  becomes  as  it  were  benumbed,  and  ceases 
to  receive  impressions  of  external  objects  ;  and  that  the 
faculty  of  thought  seems  to  wander  without  control.  In 
the  functions  which  serve  for  the  support  of  life,  on  the 
contrary,  there  is  no  material  interruption.  All  of  them 
remain  unsuspended,  and  some  of  them  are  maintained 
in  full  vigor  and  activity.  The  natural  actions  of  respira- 
tion, circulation,  and  digestion,  are  little  affected.  The 
powers,  which  are  merely  mechanical  or  chemical,  seem 
to  proceed  in  the  usual  manner  ;  and,  whatever  internal 
stimuli  are  necessary  for  keeping  them  in  action,  retain 


78  SLEEP. 

their  sensibility.*  It  is  otherwise  with  the  different 
senses.  These  fall  into  a  state  of  obtuseness  and  relaxa- 
tion, from  which  they  are  not  easily  roused,  though  the 
possibility  of  affecting  them,  even  without  putting  an  end 
to  the  state  of  sleep,  is  a  matter  of  daily  experience  ; 
and,  indeed,  the  fact  that  a  sleeper  can  be  awaked  at  all, 
through  the  medium  of  his  sense  of  hearing,  or  of  touch, 
or  of  sight,  or  even  of  taste,  or  smell,  is  a  sufficient  proof 
that  these  faculties  are  not  completely  suspended.  Neither 
is  there  a  suspension  of  the  mental  powers.  Our  thoughts 
succeed  each  other  with  inconceivable  rapidity,  and  the 
imagination  appears  often  to  be  peculiarly  awake  and 
brilliant.  It  is  the  power  of  volition  alone,  so  far  as  the 
mind  is  concerned,  which  has  ceased  to  be  exerted.  This 
is  usually  attended  with  a  relaxation  of  the  voluntary 
muscles,  which  occasions  a  total  want  of  power  in  all  the 
parts  of  the  body  over  which  these  muscles  have  control. 
I  mention  this,  however,  only  as  the  usual  condition  of 
persons  in  a  state  of  somnolency  ;  for  it  is  one  of  the 
remarkable  phenomena  of  dreaming,  to  which  we  shall 
have  occasion  afterwards  to  advert,  that  the  mind  does 
then  frequently  exert  an  influence,  of  a  very  extraordinary 
nature,  over  the  bodily  functions. 

There  is  something,  at  once  interesting  and  strange,  in 
this  state,  which  its  familiar  occurrence  causes  us  often 
to  lose  sight  of ;  but  I  must  at  present  confine  myself  to 
a  single  observation.  It  is  an  essential  characteristic  of 
sleep,  that,  so  far  from  being  able  to  induce  it  when  we 
please,  the  anxiety  to  obtain  this  refreshment  only  drives 
it  away  from  us  ;  and  it  is  not  till  we  cease  to  think  about 

*  It  seems,that  this  should  be  taken  with  some  limitation.  "  Sleep," 
says  Mr.  Macnish,  "  produces  rather  important  changes  in  the  system. 
The  rapidity  of  the  circulation  is  diminished,  and,  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, that  of  respiration :  the  force  of  neither  function,  however,  is 
impaired  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  rather  increased.  Vascular  action  is 
diminished  in  the  brain  and  organs  of  volition  ;  while  digestion  and  ab- 
sorption all  proceed  with  increased  energy."  "  Sleep  lessens  all  the 
secretions,  with  one  exception, — that  of  the  skin."  "Sleep  produces 
peculiar  effects  on  the  organs  of  vision.  On  opening  the  eyelids  cau- 
tiously, the  pupil  is  seen  to  be  contracted  ;  it  then  quivers  with  an  irreg- 
ular motion,  as  if  disposed  to  dilate  ;  but  at  length  ceases  to  move,  and 
remains  in  a  contracted  state  till  the  person  awakes." 


DREAMING.  79 

it,  that  it  steals  on  us.  This  is  doubtless  a  wise  provis- 
ion ;  but  then,  were  it  to  invade  our  body  and  mind  not 
only  unsolicited,  but  unexpected,  and  were  we  unable, 
to  any  extent,  to  counteract  its  approaches,  very  distress- 
ing effects  might  be  produced. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  slight  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
Divine  Contriver,  that,  while  he  has  rendered  sleep  a 
necessary  function,  superior  to  the  human  will,  he  has, 
at  the  same  time,  afforded  such  indications  of  its  approach, 
as  to  allow  man  time  and  opportunity  decently  to  compose 
his  limbs,  and  has  even  bestowed  upon  him  such  power 
of  temporary  counteraction,  especially  in  seasons  of  ac- 
tive exertion,  as  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  his  operations 
for  a  considerable  period,  without  serious  inconvenience, 
or  fear  of  interruption,  by  the  unwelcome  and  death-like 
intruder. 


THIRD  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

DREAMING. 

THE  phenomena  of  dreaming,  which  are  so  remarkable, 
and  in  some  respects  so  inexplicable,  seem  to  have  been 
afforded  by  Providence,  as  a  kind  of  agreeable  relaxation 
to  the  ever-active  powers  of  the  mind,  while  the  bodily 
functions  are  in  a  state  of  necessary  repose. 

The  subject  has  attracted  deep  attention  from  the  ear- 
liest times,  and  has  given  rise  to  views  and  theories  of 
very  different  kinds,  corresponding  either  with  the  pre- 
possessions of  a  particular  age,  or  with  the  speculative 
views  of  the  individuals  by  whom  it  has  been  treated. 
In  early  times,  when  a  miraculous  intercourse  was  kept 
up  between  heaven  and  earth,  in  preparing  the  world  for 
the  reception  of  the  Saviour,  dreams  were  frequently  em- 
ployed as  the  medium  of  that  intercourse  ;  .and  it  was 
perhaps  owing  to  these  real  events,  that  a  superstitious 


80  DREAMING. 

veneration  for  dreams  was  cherished,  even  in  the  most 
polished  ages  of  the  ancient  world.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  divided  the  action  of  the  mind,  in  sleep,  into 
five  sorts, — the  dream,  the  vision,  the  oracle,  the  insom- 
nium,  and  the  phantasm,  of  which  the  three  first  were 
supposed  to  be  divinely  inspired.  To  such  height  had 
the  superstitious  feeling  with  regard  to  dreams  arisen  in 
Rome,  in  the  age  of  Augustus  Caesar,  that  this  monarch 
procured  the  passing  of  a  law,  obliging  all  who  had 
dreamed  any  thing  respecting  the  state,  to  make  it  publicly 
known  ;  and  he  himself,  in  consequence  of  a  nocturnal 
vision,  submitted  to  the  degrading  act  of  begging  in  the 
streets. 

More  rational  views  have  of  late  been  entertained  on 
this  curious  subject,  though  the  philosophical  theories 
which  have  been  entertained  regarding  it,  are  still  far 
from  being  either  very  satisfactory  in  themselves,  or  con- 
sistent with  each  other.  On.  these,  I  shall  not  enter  ;* 
but  some  facts  present  themselves  to  our  notice,  which 
seem  worthy  of  remark. 

What  I  have  chiefly  to  observe  is,  that,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  design  of  Providence  in  appointing  the 
existence  of  this  mysterious  state  of  mind,  its  functions 
are  so  guarded  and  qualified,  as,  speaking  generally,  to 
prevent  injurious  consequences,  and  often  to  afford  an 
exhilarating  play  to  the  imagination.  The  dreamer,  is 
introduced  into  a  kind  of  fairy  land,  where,  as  Addison, 

*  Should  the  reader  wish  to  prosecute  this  subject,  he  may  be  referred 
to  the  interesting  observations  of  Dr.  Abercrombie,  in  his  '  Inquiries 
concerning  the  Intellectual  Powers,'  and  to  the  elaborate  work  of  the 
late  Mr.  Robert  Macnish,  of  Glasgow,  on  '  The  Philosophy  of  Sleep,' 
where  the  phenomena  of  sleep  and  dreaming  are  investigated  with  much 
ingenuity,  and  in  a  manner  which  has  deservedly  gained  the  author 
considerable  celebrity.  Dr.  Abercrombie  states,  that  there  is  a  strange 
analogy  between  dreaming  and  insanity  ;  and  he  defines  the  difference 
between  the  two  states  to  be,  that,  in  the  latter,  the  erroneous  impres- 
sion being  permanent,  affects  the  conduct  ;  whereas,  in  dreaming,  no 
influence  on  the  conduct  is  produced,  because  the  vision  is  dissipated  on 
awaking.  "  This  definition,"  says  Mr.  Macnish,  "  is  nearly,  but  not 
wholly,  correct  ;  for,  in  somnambulism  and  sleep-talking,  the  conduct 
is  influenced  by  the  prevailing  dream.  Dr.  Rush  has,  with  great 
shrewdness,  remarked,  that  a  dream  may  be  considered  as  a  transient 
paroxysm  of  delirium,  and  delirium  as  a  permanent  dream." 


DREAMING.  81 

with  his  usual  elegance  and  felicity,  expresses  it,  u  the 
soul  converses  with  numberless  beings  of  her  own  crea- 
tion, and  is  transported  into  ten  thousand  scenes  of  her 
own  raising  ;  she  is  herself  the  theatre,  the  actor,  and 
the  beholder."  In  this  state,  when  reason  appears,  for  a 
time,  to  have  given  up  the  reins  to  fancy,  it  seems  as  if 
a  very  slight  variation  in  the  intensity  of  the  feeling,  or 
in  the  duration  of  the  delusion,  might  be  attended  with 
fatal  effects.  Sometimes,  a  deed  of  horror  is  supposed 
to  be  done,  or  the  most  overwhelming  calamity  is  believed 
to  have  happened.  The  event  is  depicted  in  the  strong- 
est colors  ;  it  is  actually  seen,  as  it  were,  to  take  place 
before  our  eyes  ;  the  impression  made  on  the  mind  is 
that  of  assured  conviction  of  its  truth,  accompanied  with 
the  most  intense  agony  ;  a  moment  longer,  and  the  brain 
would  be  set  on  fire.  That  boundary,  however,  is  never 
passed.  A  provision  is  made  by  which  the  very  violence 
of  the  agitation  effects  the  remedy,  and  the  dreamer 
awakes  with  a  heart  ready  to  burst  indeed,  or  with  nerves 
strung  and  shaken  to  the  very  verge  of  their  utmost 
endurance  ;  but  the  phantoms  disappear, — the  anguish 
subsides  ;  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  the  mind  is  as  calm  and 
serene  as  before. 

The  same  observations  will  apply,  with  still  greater 
force,  to  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism,  the  most 
frightful  and  dangerous  condition  of  persons  in  sleep. 
This  is  evidently  not  a  natural  and  healthy,  but  a  diseased 
state  of  the  bodily  and  mental  powers,  and  therefore  forms 
such  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  as  we  would  make 
in  any  other  case  of  morbid  action.  It  is  worthy  of  re- 
mark, however,  that  while  this  irregular  affection  shows 
the  distressing  consequences  which  might  ensue,  were  it 
to  be  the  usual  accompaniment  of  the  dormant  state,  and 
thus  very  strikingly  proves  the  wisdom  of  the  natural 
provision,  the  law  of  which  is,  that  the  body  shall  not 
obey  the  dictates  of  the  soul  in  sleep,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  kept  within  such  bounds,  that  fatal,  or  even  distress- 
ing accidents,  seldom  take  place  from  the  vagaries  of  the 
somnambulist.  We  hear  of  such  persons  climbing  to 
the  tops  of  houses,  or  walking  along  precipices,  and  per- 


82  DREAMING. 

forming  other  perilous  feats,  which  in  their  waking  hours 
they  would  have  shuddered  even  to  think  of,  yet,  when 
left  undisturbed,  with  astonishing  dexterity  surmounting 
every  danger,  and  returning  in  safety  to  their  beds.  But 
we  must  further  remark,  that  even  these  are  extreme  and 
very  rare  instances,  and  that,  in  by  far  the  greatest  vari- 
ety of  cases,  in  which  there  is  a  tendency  to  this  disease, 
the  body  only  very  partially  and  very  harmlessly  yields 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  mind.  A  few  muttered  senten- 
ces, or  a  restless  turning  in  bed,  or  at  most,  perhaps,  a 
habit  of  occasionally  rising  and  walking  about  the  floor, 
are  in  general  the  only  indications  that  the  body  has  a 
tendency,  under  the  excitement  of  dreaming,  to  obey  the 
suggestions  of  the  imagination. 

Having  mentioned  the  subject  of  somnambulism,  I  am 
reminded  of  a  remarkable  instance  of  it,  recorded  in  the 
Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  in  its  memoir  of  Dr.  Blacklock, 
whose  accomplishments  as  a  poet  and  a  clergyman,  though 
struggling  from  his  early  infancy  with  all  the  privations 
of  blindness,  are  well  known  to  the  literary  world.  This 
excellent  man  had  received  a  presentation  to  the  living  of 
Kirkcudbright,  and  his  settlement  was  violently  opposed. 
He  was  deeply  agitated  with  the  hostility  which  was  man- 
ifested against  him,  and, after  dining  with  some  friends  on 
the  day  of  his  ordination,  finding  rest  necessary  to  recruit 
his  harassed  and  exhausted  spirits,  he  left  the  table  and 
retired  to  bed,  when  the  following  extraordinary  circum- 
stance occurred  : — "  One  of  his  companions,  uneasy  at 
his  absence  from  the  company,  went  into  his  bedroom 
a  few  hours  afterwards,  and  finding  him,  as  he  supposed, 
awake,  prevailed  on  him  to  return  again  into  the  dining- 
room.  When  he  entered  the  room,  two  of  his  acquaint- 
ances were  engaged  in  singing,  and  he  joined  in  the  con- 
cert, modulating  his  voice  as  usual  with  taste  and  elegance, 
without  missing  a  note  or  a  syllable  ;  and,  after  the 
words  of  the  song  were  ended,  he  continued  to  sing,  ad- 
ding an  extempore  verse,  which  appeared  to  the  company 
full  of  beauty,  and  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  original.  He 
then  went  to  supper,  and  drank  a  glass  or  two  of  wine. 
His  friends,  however,  observed  him  to  be  occasionally 


DREAMING.  83 

absent  and  inattentive.  By  and  by,he  was  heard  speak- 
ing to  himself,  but  in  so  low  and  confused  a  manner  as 
to  be  unintelligible.  At  last,  being  pretty  forcibly  roused 
by  Mrs.  Blacklock,  who  began  to  be  alarmed  form's  intel- 
lects,he  awoke,  with  a  sudden  start,  unconscious  of  all  that 
had  happened,  having  been  the  whole  time  fast  asleep."* 

Lord  Brougham,  in  his  lately-published  Discourse 
on  Natural  Theology,  makes  use  of  the  phenomena  of 
dreaming,  as  an  argument  for  the  mind's  independence 
of  matter,  and  capacity  of  existence  without  it.  His 
argument,  in  a  few  words,  is  this  : — In  the  state  of  dream- 
ing, all  the  bodily  functions  which  depend  upon  volition 
are  suspended  ;  and  the  bodily  senses,  though  not  entirely 
in  a  state  of  abeyance,  become  very  obtuse.  But  this 
does  not  interrupt  the  activity  of  the  mind ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  power  of  imagination,  and  the  celerity  with 
which  ideas  pass  through  the  mind,  are  increased  by  this 
cessation  of  communication  through  the  senses.  The 
mind,  therefore,  acts  vigorously,  when  the  powers  of  the 
body  are  unstrung  ;  and  it  is  only  advancing  another  step 
to  suppose,  that  it  can  act  altogether  independently  of 
its  material  instrument,  and  survive  it.  To  prove  the 
extreme  agility  of  the  mental  powers,  and  their  total  di- 
versity from  any  material  substances  and  actions,  his 
lordship  enters  into  some  curious  details  of  the  phenom- 
ena of  dreaming,  which  incontestably  prove  that  it  some- 
times requires  but  an  exceedingly  short  period  to  suggest 
and  complete  a  long  train  of  incidents.  "  A  puncture 
made,"  says  he,  in  one  of  his  illustrations,  u  will  immedi- 
ately produce  a  long  dream,  which  seems  to  terminate 
in  some  such  accident,  as  that  the  sleeper  has  been  wan- 
dering through  a  wood,  and  received  a  severe  wound  from 
a  spear,  or  the  tooth  of  a  wild  animal,  which  at  the  same 
instant  awakens  him.  A  gun  fired  in  one  instance,  dur- 
ing the  alarm  of  invasion,  made  a  military  man  at  once 
dream  the  enemy  had  landed,  so  that  he  ran  to  his  post, 
and  repairing  to  the  scene  of  action,  was  present  when 
the  first  discharge  took  place,  which  also  at  the  same 
moment  awakened  him." 

*  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia, — Article,  Blacklock. 


84  DREAMING. 

From  these  facts,  Lord  Brougham  infers,  "  the  infinite 
rapidity  of  thought."  ' '  Mark,"  he  says,  u  what  was  done 
in  an  instant, — in  a  mere  point  of  time.  The  sensation 
of  the  pain  or  noise  beginning,  is  conveyed  to  the  mind, 
and  sets  it  a  thinking  of  many  things  connected  with  such 
sensations.  But  that  sensation  is  lost  or  forgotten,  for  a 
portion  of  the  short  instant  during  which  the  impression 
lasts  ;  for  the  conclusion  of  the  same  impression  gives  rise 
to  a  new  set  of  ideas.  The  walk  in  the  wood,  and  the  hur- 
rying to  the  post,  are  suggested  by  the  sensation  begin- 
ning. Then  follow  many  things  unconnected  with  that 
sensation,  except  that  they  grew  out  of  it  ;  and  lastly 
comes  the  wound,  and  the  broadside,  suggested  by  the 
continuance  of  the  sensation  ;  while,  all  the  time,  this 
continuance  has  been  producing  an  effect  on  the  mind 
wholly  different  from  the  train  of  ideas  the  dream  consists 
of,  nay,  destructive  of  that  train,  namely,  the  effect  of 
rousing  it  from  the  state  of  sleep,  and  restoring  its  do- 
minion over  the  body.  Nay,  there  may  be  said  to  be  a 
third  operation  of  the  mind  going  on  at  the  same  time 
with  these  two, — a  looking  forward  to  the  denouement 
of  the  plot, — for  the  fancy  is  all  along  so  contriving  as 
to  fit,,  by  terminating  in  some  event,  some  result  con- 
sistent with  the  impression  made  on  the  senses,  and  which 
has  given  rise  to  the  whole  train  of  ideas."* 

*  I  cannot,  without  diffidence,  differ  from  such  an  authority  ;  but  I 
am  by  no  means  sure  that  the  view  the  noble  author  has  taken  of  these 
phenomena  is  perfectly  correct.  I  should  rather  be  inclined  to  think 
that  the  whole  series  of  incidents  in  dreams  were  suggested  after  the 
shock,  which  at  last  put  an  end  to  sleep,  had  been  received  ;  and,  dur- 
ing the  period,  somewhat  more  than  an  instant,  though  exceedingly  short, 
which  elapsed  before  the  process  of  awaking  had  been  accomplished  ; 
and  that  the  wound  and  discharge  of  musketry,  imagined  in  the  dream, 
were  not  the  same  as  the  puncture  and  the  shot  which  actually  took  place, 
but  were  afterwards  conceived,  like  the  other  parts  of  the  dream.  This 
view  disembarrasses  the  matter  of  some  of  its  difficulties  ;  but,  on  any 
supposition,  the  dream  must  have  been  nearly  instantaneous,  and  the 
rapidity  of  the  succession  of  ideas  is  wonderful.  I  am  compelled  also 
to  doubt  the  validity  of  the  conclusion  to  which  his  lordship  comes, 
that  "  we  only  dream  during  the  instant  of  transition  into  and  out  of 
sleep."  Several  facts  contradict  this  view  ;  and,  in  particular,  the  phe- 
nomena of  somnambulism,  and  of  speaking  during  sleep,  are  conclusive 
against  it.  The  case  of  Dr.  Blacklock,  for  example,  cannot  possibly  be 
explained  on  his  lordship's  hypothesis. 


THE  WORLD  A  STATE   OF  DISCIPLINE.  85 

Whether  we  entirely  agree  with  this  reasoning  or  not, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  rapidity  of  thought, 
evinced  in  dreaming,  is  amazing  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  elude 
the  ingenious  argument  for  the  immateriality  of  the  soul, 
which  the  author  has  founded  on  it  ;  though,  if  we  were 
to  rely  on  this  argument,  it  might  land  us  in  the  belief, 
that  the  souls  of  the  lower  animals,  many  of  which  are 
known  also  to  dream,  must  be  immaterial  too. 


FOURTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

THIS    WORLD    A    STATE    OF    DISCIPLINE. 

THE  peculiar  condition  of  sublunary  things,  as  imper- 
fect and  transitory,  is  forced  on  our  notice  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  external  world  during  the  period  of 
winter.  The  beauty  of  the  year  is  gone, — the  cheerful 
notes  of  the  lark,  of  the  blackbird,  of  the  thrush,  and  of 
the  whole  choir  which  poured  the  voice  of  love  and  en- 
joyment from  earth  and  sky,  have  ceased  in  our  land,  and 
a  brooding,  ominous  melancholy  reigns  around.  This 
is  but  one  instance  of  a  character  impressed,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  every  thing  under  the  sun.  All  are  full  of 
change  and  decay  ;  and  the  state  of  the  natural  world  is 
only  an  emblem  of  that  which  subsists  in  the  moral  world, 
where  temptation,  and  sin,  and  sorrow,  have  shed  their 
fatal  blight  over  the  glorious  prospects  of  rational  and 
immortal  beings. 

This  condition  would  be  totally  inexplicable,  we're  it 
not  for  the  light  thrown  on  the  subject  by  Revelation. 
When  we  are  told  that  we  are  at  present  only  in  the  in- 
fancy of  our  existence,  placed  here  in  a  state  of  discipline, 
to  prepare  us  for  a  higher  and  more  perfect  residence, 
the  mystery  is  unravelled,  and  we  are  made  to  under- 
stand, in  some  degree  at  least,  why  it  has  pleased  the 
All-wise  Disposer  of  events  to  place  us  in  a  world  where 
i.  8  vii. 


86  THE  WORLD  A   STATE   OF  DISCIPLINE. 

He  only  displays  the  brightness  of  His  perfections  as  it 
were  by  glimpses,  and  casts  clouds  and  darkness  over  the 
rest  of  the  scene. 

It  is  true  that  evil  exists  ;  but  the  Christian  knows  that 
it  is  overruled  for  good.  Our  Creator  does  not,  indeed, 
remove  calamity,  but  He  changes  its  nature,  and  gives 
us  power  cheerfully  to  endure  it.  As  our  religion  shows 
us  the  hand  of  a  God  of  love  in  every  thing,  it  causes  us 
to  regard  distress,  from  whatever  earthly  source  it  arises, 
as  u  the  chastisement  of  a  Father,  who  chastens  us  for 
our  profit,  that  we  may  become  partakers  of  his  holiness." 
Hence  the  Christian  is  in  a  condition  to  feel  a  constant 
and  delightful  dependence  on  Providence.  Thus  in- 
structed, he  may  grieve,  but  he  cannot  repine  ;  he  may 
be  humbled  and  afflicted,  but  he  cannot  despair.  Shall 
a  child,  who  knows  that  a  Father  corrects  him  in  love, 
murmur  under  the  rod  ?  Shall  he  not  rather  bend  with 
humble  resignation,  and  look  up  with  affectionate  joy, 
to  the  hand  which  wounds  that  it  may  heal  ? 

This  would  be  the  effect  of  faith  in  the  promises  of  the 
Gospel,  even  although  the  operations  of  Providence  were 
surrounded  with  such  mysterious  darkness,  that  our  limit- 
ed faculties  could  perceive  in  them  no  traces  of  Divine 
wisdom  and  goodness.  But  it  is  no  trifling  addition  to 
the  satisfaction  with  which  we  rest  in  these  promises, 
that  God  frequently  condescends  to  make  bare  His  holy 
arm  in  our  sight,  that  we  may  follow  His  hand,  as  it  over- 
rules earthly  events,  and  controls  human  passions  and 
affections,  so  as  to  render  both  moral  and  physical  evil 
an  instrument  of  good. 

In  reference  to  our  condition  as  moral  agents,  and  with 
a  view  to  the  powers  and  faculties,  which,  as  sinful  but 
rational  creatures,  we  possess,  it  is  not  difficult  to  per- 
ceive in  what  manner  the  afflictive  vicissitudes  of  life 
operate  in  elevating  and  ameliorating  our  character.  If 
life  were  free  from  evil,  there  would  be  little  to  employ 
the  judgement,  or  call  into  action  the  latent  faculties, — 
little  to  rouse,  to  affect,  and  to  invigorate  the  human 
soul.  The  heroic  virtues  of  fortitude  and  courage,  for 
example,  would  be  without  an  object,  were  there  no 


THE   WORLD  A   STATE   OF   DISCIPLINE.  87 

perils  to  encounter,  and  no  enemies  to  subdue.  What 
self-abasement  could  there  be  where  there  was  no  in- 
firmity ?  What  meekness,  what  patience,  what  forbear- 
ance, if  there  were  no  injustice  to  sustain,  no  calamities 
to  suffer,  and  no  injuries  to  forgive  ?  Where  were  the 
exercise  of  resignation  in  a  paradise  of  bliss  ?  Where  the 
trial  of  faith  in  a  land  of  righteousness  ? 

The  social  virtues,  too,  as  well  as  the  personal,  could, 
under  such  circumstances,  only  be  called  into  partial 
action.  How  could  there  be  any  pity,  where  there  was 
no  distress  ? — any  sympathetic  joy,  where  there  was  no 
escape  from  danger  ? — any  compassionate  charity,  where 
there  were  no  sins  to  cover,  and  no  wants  to  relieve  ? 

Were  there  no  evils,  then,  either  in  the  circumstances 
of  the  external  world,  or  in  the  moral  and  physical  con- 
dition of  thp  «snr.ip.t.v  in  which  we  dwell,  some  of  our 

noblest  faculties  would  remain  unexercised  and  unim- 
proved. But  it  is  not  so.  Under  the  discipline  of 
Providence,  the  Christian  is  tutored  in  the  school  of  ad- 
versity ;  and  is  rendered  prudent  by  disappointment,  hum- 
ble by  error,  and  magnanimous  by  endurance.  Baffled, 
afflicted,  persecuted,  but  rising  superior  to  calamity,  he 
unfolds  his  patience,  his  meekness,  his  resignation.  Ex- 
periencing the  hatred  and  contempt  of  those  whom  his 
heart  desires  to  benefit,  he  learns  the  divine  duty  of  for- 
giveness, and  is  taught  to  persevere  in  offices  of  kind- 
ness to  the  ungrateful.  While  engaged  in  these  severe 
but  exalted  exercises,  he  becomes  sensible  of  his  own 
inability,  and  is  forced  to  exclaim,  "Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  ?"  Thus,  he  is  led  to  apply  to  Him 
who  has  said^ccMy  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,  my 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness."  Weeping  for 
his  sins  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  he  feels  the  virtue  of 
humility  taking  deep  root  and  growing  in  his  soul ;  and 
the  graces  of  faith,  of  hope,  and  of  joy  in  the  Saviour  of 
sinners,  rising  to  maturity. 

In  a  word,  the  disciple  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows  is  ex- 
posed to  temptation,  that  he  may  guard  against  it ;  to 
difficulties,  that  he  may  overcome  them  ;  to  dangers, 
that  he  may  rise  above  them.  He  is  taught,  by  expe- 


88  THE   WORLD  A   STATE    OF  DISCIPLINE. 

rience,  the  unprofitableness  of  sin,  and  he  hates  it, — the 
emptiness  of  human  honors,  and  he  despises  them, — the 
worthlessness  of  earthly  pleasures,  and  he  looks  beyond 
them. 

Contemplate  the  servant  of  Jesus,  as,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Heaven,  he  advances  through  this  vale  of  tears, 
gradually  throwing  off  the  load  of  his  sins, — mixing  with 
the  world,  that  he  may  learn  to  despise  its  follies, — gain- 
ing strength  by  moral  discipline,  and  improving  in  virtues 
and  graces  at  every  step.  In  this  character,  you  witness 
the  highest  glory  of  human  nature  in  its  state  of  sin  and 
suffering  on  earth, — a  being,  worthy  of  the  approbation 
of  angels.  You  see,  a  soldier  taught  to  fight  the  good 
fight  of  faith,  and  trained  to  victory  amidst  hardships, 
dangers,  and  death, — a  pilgrim  travelling  through  the 
wilderness,  with  steady  eye  fixed  on  the  Holy  Land, — 
a  pupil  of  God,  instructed  in  the  school  of  His  provi- 
dence,— an  heir  of  immortality,  rendered  meet  for  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 

Clothed  now  in  the  armor  of  God,  he  goes  forth 
"  conquering  and  to  conquer  ;"  surrounded  with  danger, 
but  trusting  in  an  unseen  arm ;  struggling  with  sorrow, 
yet  kissing  the  hand  which  inflicts  the  wound  ;  "troubled 
on  every  side,  but  not  distressed ;  perplexed,  but  not  in 
despair:  persecuted, but  not  forsaken;  cast  down  but  not 
destroyed  :"  eluding  the  snares  of  the  world,  and  even 
successfully  contending  with  u  principalities  and  powers, 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  and  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places." 

What  striking  instances  of  the  efficacy  of  Christian 
principles,  exercised  amidst  vicissitudes  and  suffering, 
do  we  discover  in  the  Apostles  of  our  Lord,  who  rejoiced 
when  they  were  counted  worthy  of  stripes  for  the  sake 
of  their  beloved  Master,  in  whom  "  tribulation  wrought 
patience,  and  patience  experience,  and  experience  hope;" 
and  whom  u  hope  made  not  ashamed,  because,  the  love 
of  God  was  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts."  And,  above 
all,  what  a  dignified  and  lovely  example  of  the  same 
principle  do  we  behold  in  Christ,  himself,  whose  whole 
life  was  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  Divine  grace,  in 


THE   STARRY  HEAVENS.  89 

calling  the  noblest  faculties  into  exercise,  and  thus  ren- 
dering the  character  of  man  "  perfect  through  suffering  ;" 
and  who  could, — at  the  close  of  His  earthly  career,  when 
He  saw  the  time  immediately  at  hand,  so  full  of  unutter- 
able horrors,  in  which  the  whole  world  was  to  be  com- 
bined against  Him,  in  which  His  very  disciples  were  to 
forsake  their  Master,  and  allow  Him  to  tread  the  wine- 
press alone, — who  could,  I  say,  even  in  this  most  ap- 
palling hour  of  the  power  of  darkness,  preserve  unshaken 
His  confidence  in  an  unseen  God,  and  feeling  that  He 
was  not  alone,  for  the  Father  was  with  Him,  could  in 
pious  resignation  exclaim,  "  Father  !  not  as  I  will,  but  as 
Thou  wilt!" 

But  there  is  a  far  higher  consideration,  which  gives  a 
peculiar  character  to  the  troubles  of  life,  and  stamps  on 
them  an  inestimable  value.  They  prepare  mortal  man 
for  immortality.  Here  is  the  true  source  of  Christian 
consolation.  What  are  a  few  fleeting  years  of  imperfect 
enjoyment,  or  even  of  positive  calamity,  when,  through 
that  very  condition,  we  shall  be  rendered  meet  to  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  dwell  with  Him  for  ever  ? 
Who  would  not  go  on  a  pilgrimage  through  this  dark  and 
howling  wilderness,  when  he  sees  rising  before  him,  in 
all  their  grandeur  and  beauty,  the  everlasting  mansions  of 
the  promised  land  ?  Who  would  not  cheerfully  bear  the 
light  affliction  of  the  present  moment,  when  he  knows 
that  it  is  "  working  out  for  him  a  far  more  exceeding, 
even  an  eternal  weight  of  glory  ?" 


FOURTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

I .  THE  STARRY  HEAVENS  . GENERAL  REMARKS  . 

NOTHING  is  better  calculated  to  raise  the  contempla- 
tive mind  to  the  great  Author  of  all  things,  than  a  view 
of  the  starry  heavens,  when  night  has  cast  its  deep  shade 

8* 


90  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

over  the  face  of  Nature,  and  the  frost  of  winter  has  not 
only  converted  the  earth  into  stone,  and  the  waters  into 
crystal,  but  has  charmed  the  exhalations  from  the  air,  and 
endowed  it  with  such  a  beautiful  transparency,  that  each 
little  star  shoots  its  radiance  on  the  eye,  and  the  whole 
sublime  hemisphere  seems  like  an  immense  and  gorgeous 
dome,  studded  with  diamonds  ;  a  fit  temple  for  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Creator.  The  untutored  savage,  though  he 
regards  the  stars  only  as  so  many  lamps  suspended  from 
the  azure  vault,  to  enlighten  and  cheer  his  abode,  is  struck 
with  admiration  of  the  gift ;  and,  with  a  heart  overflow- 
ing with  gratitude,  falls  down  to  bless  the  Great  Spirit 
who  bestowed  it.  Ignorance  and  astonishment  have  gone 
still  further  ;  and,  in  almost  all  nations,  traces  are  to  be 
found  of  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies, — a  rude,  but 
not  altogether  unnatural  form  of  religion  to  the  uninstruct- 
ed  mind.  The  u  Hosts  of  Heaven,"  are  assuredly  the 
most  striking  and  appropriate  visible  emblems  of  the  glory 
of  the  Almighty  Unseen  ;  and,  where  the  mind  has  been 
unaccustomed  to  reflect  on  any  objects  but  those  which 
strike  the  senses,  the  mistake  may,  without  difficulty,  be 
accounted  for.  Certainly  such  a  belief,  is  neither  so 
strange  nor  so  revolting,  as  the  worship  of  cows  and  ser- 
pents, or  even  of  men  and  devils,  with  examples  of  which 
the  history  of  heathen  mythology  abounds. 

Science,  however,  even  in  its  earliest  efforts,  easily 
shook  off  this  superstition  ;  and,  as  it  advanced,  exhibited 
new  wonders  in  the  sky,  which  extended  the  views,  while 
they  intensely  excited  the  curiosity,  of  man,  and  gave 
deep  exercise  to  his  intellectual  faculties.  Hence  have 
resulted  discoveries  which  have  overwhelmed  the  mind 
with  astonishment.  It  does  appear  little  less  than  miracu- 
lous, that  a  worm  of  earth,  like  man,  who  is  bound  to  a 
little  spot  of  this  remote  planet ;  whose  abode  upon  it  is 
but  threescore  and  ten  years ;  whose  bodily  strength  is 
inferior  to  that  of  many  other  animals ;  whose  powers  of 
vision  are  more  limited  ;  whose  intellect,  in  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, rises  but  little  beyond  a  mere  provision  for 
daily  subsistence  ;  that  this  being,  with  faculties  and 
means  apparently  so  inadequate,  should  have  been  enabled, 


THE    STARRY   HEAVENS.  91 

by  dint  of  an  insatiable  desire  of  knowledge,  and  an  un- 
wearied perseverance,  to  overcome  so  many  difficulties, 
and  to  forge  a  key,  by  which  the  mysteries  of  the  uni- 
verse have  been  unlocked,  and  a  near  view  has  been  ob- 
tained of  the  secret  springs,  which,  under  the  fiat  of  the 
Creator,  move  the  amazing  machinery  of  the  material 
world.  Little  did  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  earth  think, 
when  they  gazed,  in  stupid  surprise,  on  the  tiny  sparks 
which  bespangled  the  heavens,  that  each  of  these  was  a 
globe  of  fire,  compared  with  which  the  earth  they  inhab- 
ited, was  but  as  a  ball,  which  a  child  tosses  in  his  hand  ; 
or,  that  the  distance  at  which  they  were  situated,  was  so 
amazing,  that  a  hundred  millions  of  miles  was  but  as  the 
length  of  an  infant's  step.  Yet  these  are  truths  now  fa- 
miliar to  every  mind,  and  established  by  demonstrations, 
on  which  skepticism  itself  dare  not  breathe  a  doubt. 

The  world  of  wonders  into  which  astronomy  introduces 
us,  is  calculated  at  once  to  enlarge  and  to  depress  the 
mind  ;  to  depress  it  with  a  sense  of  its  own  insignificance  ; 
to  enlarge  it  with  views  and  exercises  so  immense,  that, 
as  it  expands,  it  perceives  more  and  more  clearly  the  im- 
measurable vastness  of  the  grasp  it  is  required  to  take  ; 
and,  though  constantly  enlarging,  in  proportion  to  its  ef- 
forts, feels  itself,  at  every  step,  left  hopelessly  behind, 
till  at  last  it  is  lost  in  infinitude. 

When  a  man  confines  himself  to  his  own  little  locality, 
and  looks  around  him  on  the  subject  earth,  which  his 
plastic  hand  converts  from  a  wilderness  into  a  garden  ;  or 
on  the  lower  animals,  whom  he  subdues  to  his  will,  and 
causes,  by  the  superiority  of  his  mental  powers,  to  supply 
his  wants,  and  administer  to  his  comforts ;  or,  even  on 
the  waters  of  the  far-spread  ocean,  whose  proud  waves  he 
conquers,  and  over  whose  trackless  wastes  he  makes  his 
way ;  or  on  the  free  and  capricious  air,  whose  fury  he 
controls,  and  whose  blandness  he  renders  subservient  to 
his  pleasures  or  his  profit, — in  such  contemplations,  he 
may  find  much  to  foster  self-complacency,  and  to  per- 
suade him  that  he  is,  in  reality,  that  lordly  being  which 
pride  and  vanity  delight  to  portray.  But  the  scenes  which 
astronomy  unfolds,  arer altogether  of  a  different  tendency, 


92  THE    STARRY  HEAVENS. 

and  ought  to  repress  those  swellings  of  self-love,  which  a 
more  partial  and  contracted  view  of  his  situation  may  ex- 
cite. The  voyager  who  has  compassed  the  earth,  when 
he  returns  to  his  native  village  is  surprised  to  find  that 
every  thing  has,  to  his  view,  contracted  in  its  dimensions, 
and  become  comparatively  mean  and  sordid  in  its  appear- 
ance. The  houses  have  shrunk  into  hovels  ;  the  village- 
green,  from  a  broad-spread  lawn,  has  dwindled  into  a 
miserable  court-yard  ;  miles  have  diminished  into  fur- 
longs ;  and  magnificent  estates  into  sorry  farms.  This 
effect  has  been  produced  by  a  contrast  with  the  expan- 
sion of  his  own  views  ;  and  a  similar  result  arises  from  the 
contemplations  of  the  astronomer.  Expatiating  in  the 
infinity  of  the  universe,  the  things  of  earth  seem  to  lessen 
while  he  regards  them.  As  he  pursues  his  inquiries,  the 
contrast  becomes  daily  more  apparent  and  more  hum- 
bling. He  begins  to  perceive  an  emptiness  in  those 
things  that  formerly  engaged  his  attention,  and  interested 
his  affections,  which  he  did  not  previously  suspect.  He 
finds  himself  placed  on  a  little  planet,  whose  comparative 
insignificance  is  such,  that,  were  it  struck  from  the  face 
of  creation,  its  fate  would  be  but  like  that  of  a  falling  star, 
which  loses  itself  in  the  heavens,  and  is  remembered  no 
more.  And,  as  to  himself,  what  an  atom  is  he !  How 
humiliating  is  the  thought  ! 

But  the  mind  cannot  rest  here.  If  the  creation  be  so 
inconceivably  extensive,  what  is  the  Creator  ?  This  is 
the  most  interesting  and  elevating  of  all  inquiries.  When 
the  mind  has  dwelt  upon  it,  till  its  importance  is  appre- 
ciated, and  its  various  bearings  perceived,  and  then  turns 
back  upon  itself,  the  reflection  naturally  occurs,  u  Am 
not  I  a  child  of  this  Almighty  Parent  ?  Is  it  not  in  His 
universe  that  I  exist  ?  Has  He  not  constituted  me  a  part 
of  the  system  which  His  Infinite  Wisdom  has  established? 
And  what,  then,  is  that  system  with  reference  to  me,  and 
the  race  with  which  I  am  connected  ?" 

Such  views,  open  to  the  inquiring  mind,  the  whole 
field  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  and  lead  irresist- 
ibly to  the  conclusion,  that  there  is  no  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  man's  nature  and  destiny,  but  in  the  inspired 


THE   STARRY  HEAVENS.  93 

word,  and  no  resting-place  for  his  hopes,  but  in  the  life 
and  immortality  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus. 


FOURTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

II.    THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. GRAVITATION  AND  INERTIA. 

IF  it  be  true,  as  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  that 
the  fixed  stars  which  sparkle  in  the  heavens,  are  suns 
like  our  own,  shining,  as  they  certainly  do,  by  their  own 
light,  and  shedding  their  radiance  on  other  worlds,  a  view 
of  creation  is  opened  to  us,  which  it  is  both  delight- 
ful and  overwhelming  to  contemplate ;  and  to  this  view 
we  shall  afterwards  turn.  At  present,  let  us  take  a 
rapid  survey  of  the  system  of  which  we  ourselves  form 
a  part. 

Our  star  (for  the  sun,  considered  with  reference  to  the 
universe,  deserves  no  higher  name)  appears  larger  than 
other  stars  to  us,  only  on  account  of  its  nearness ;  but 
when  we  call  it  near,  we  speak  relatively ;  for  it  is 
known  to  be  separated  from  us  by  the  amazing  distance 
of  95,000,000  of  miles.  It  is  the  centre  of  our  planetary 
system  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  certain  bodies  similar 
to  our  own  globe,  which  bear  to  the  sun  the  same  rela- 
tion, being,  like  the  earth,  attracted  to  it  by  the  all-per- 
vading law  of  gravitation,  and  only  kept  from  falling  into 
it, — as  a  stone  when  thrown  falls  to  the  ground, — by  the 
velocity  with  which  they  move  in  a  different  direction. 
The  two  wellknown  laws,  so  simple  in  their  nature,  and 
yet  so  vast  in  their  effects,  by  which  the  whole  creation 
is  moulded  and  regulated,  have,  ever  since  their  discov- 
ery as  universal  agents,  been  most  justly  regarded  with 
the  highest  admiration  ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive 
any  thing  capable  of  impressing  on  the  mind  a  more  ex- 
alted view  of  the  power  and  wisdom  of  the  Creator.  It 


94  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

would  be  inconsistent  with  our  plan  to  enter  deeply  into 
this  subject ;  but  some  cursory  observations  on  a  matter 
of  such  intense  interest,  and  so  directly  illustrative  of  the 
perfections  of  God,  cannot  be  considered  out  of  place. 
Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  law  of  gravity  or  weight, 
— that  mysterious  power,  which,  acting  uniformly,  draws 
all  things  downwards,  toward  the  centre  of  the  earth. 
It  is  in  virtue  of  this  law,  that,  were  I  to  open  my  fin- 
gers, the  pen  with  which  I  write  would  fall  flat  upon  the 
paper.  It  is  the  same  law,  which  causes  the  ink  to  flow 
upon  the  paper  from  my  pen,  the  paper  to  lie  steadily 
on  my  desk,  and  the  desk  itself  to  stand  firmly  on  the 
floor.  Nay,  it  is  this  very  law  which  gives  solidity  to 
the  ground  on  which  I  tread,  which  has  formed  it  into  a 
globe,  and  which  prevents  it  from  breaking  up  into  shape- 
less and  unconnected  masses.  The  properties  of  this 
unseen  aor«mt  *™  +—  palpable,  in  relation  to  our  own 
sphere,  to  have  escaped  the  attention  of  the  earliest  in- 
quirers into  Nature.  But  it  was  reserved  to  a  far  later 
period  to  demonstrate,  or  even  to  conjecture,  that  the 
very  same  power,  which  produces  such  salutary  effects 
in  the  earth,  is  not  only  an  essential  property  of  all  mat- 
ter, but  acts  at  the  greatest  distances,  and  preserves  the 
balance  of  the  universe. 

The  other  property,  which,  combined  with  gravitation, 
is  employed  in  regulating  the  machinery  of  creation  on 
the  great  scale,  is  also  familiar  to  the  most  ignorant,  in 
regard  to  some  of  its  qualities.  Every  child  knows,  that 
a  stone  thrown  forcibly  from  the  hand,  or  an  arrow  shot 
from  a  bow,  will  continue  for  some  time  to  move  forward 
in  the  direction  in  which  it  has  been  projected ;  but, 
then,  this  power  of  continued  motion,  as  it  comes  under 
ordinary  observation,  is  only  very  limited  in  its  opera- 
tion, because  it  is  counteracted  both  by  the  attraction  of 
the  earth  and  the  resistance  of  the  air,  and  no  force  which 
human  skill  can  apply,  is  sufficiently  powerful  to  give 
an  impetus  to  any  body,  capable  of  overcoming,  for  a 
length  of  time,  these  opposing  forces.  In  the  principle 
itself,  however,  there  is  no  limit ;  and  the  law  is  simply 
this,  that  while  a  body  at  rest  will,  if  not  disturbed,  re- 


GRAVITATION  AND   INERTIA.  95 

main  for  ever  in  that  state, — a  body  once  set  in  motion, 
will,  when  not  acted  on  by  some  modifying  or  counter- 
acting force,  move  on  continually  without  deviation  or  in- 
termission, in  a  straight  line.  This  is  the  law  of  inertia, 
[or  inertness,] — a  law  which  is  not  less  universal  than 
that  of  gravitation. 

Now,  to  understand  the  operation  of  these  two  laws 
in  relation  to  each  other, — first,  suppose  a  small  body, 
placed  at  rest,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large  one,  also 
at  rest,  both  of  them  in  empty  space.  The  mutual  at- 
traction would  immediately  begin  to  operate,  and  they 
would  move  toward  each  other  till  they  met,  and  that 
with  a  rapidity  proportioned  to  the  quantity  of  matter 
contained  in  each,  the  larger  most  powerfully  attracting 
the  smaller.  Suppose,  again,  that  the  smaller  body,  in- 
stead of  being  placed  at  rest,  was  projected  with  a  cer- 
tain velocity  in  a  direction  different  from  that  in  which 
the  other  was  situated.  That  velocity  might  be  very 
great  ;  and  then,  after  a  mutual  disturbance,  arising  from 
the  reciprocal  attraction,  the  moving  body  would  disen- 
gage itself  from  the  other,  and  fly  off  into  boundless 
space  ;  or  it  might  be  very  small,  and  then  the  vis  iner- 
tice  would  be  overcome,  and  the  two  bodies  would  fall 
toward  each  other,  and  unite  ;  but,  if  the  projecting  force 
were,  within  certain  limits,  proportioned  to  the  gravitat- 
ing force,  the  consequence  would  be,  that  there  would  be 
a  certain  point  in  the  progress  of  the  moving  body,  in 
which  the  two  powers  would  balance  each  other,  and 
then,  that  body  would  continue  to  move,  indeed,  but  in 
a  constant  circuit  round  the  attracting  force,  which  would 
thus  become  its  centre  of  motion,  and  its  course  would 
be  in  an  oval  or  in  a  circle,  according  to  the  force  and 
direction  of  the  motion  originally  impressed. 

This  is,  in  fact,  the  principle  by  which  the  whole 
planetary  system  is  governed.  The  sun,  a  body  of  vast 
dimensions,  is  the  centre  of  attraction  to  which  all  the 
planets  gravitate,  and  into  which  they  are  prevented  from 
falling  only  by  the  opposite  power  of  inertia.  The  two 
forces,  with  the  nicest  exactness,  balance  each  other  ; 
the  former,  in  reference  to  this  principle,  being  called 


96  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

the  centripetal,  and  the  latter  the  centrifugal  motion ; 
and  thus,  the  great  machine  is  kept  in  action,  and  the 
planets  wheel  steadily  in  their  respective  orbits,  and  per- 
form their  various  beneficent  functions.  I  may  add,  that 
this  is  the  principle,  not  of  the  solar  system  only,  but  of 
the  system  of  the  universe. 

"O,  unprofuse  magnificence  divine  ! 
O,  wisdom  truly  perfect  !  thus  to  call 
From  a  few  causes  such  a  scheme  of  things. — 
Effects  so  various,  beautiful,  and  great, 
A  universe  complete  !" 

THOMSON. 


FOURTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

III.    THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. THE  PLANETARY  SYSTEM. 

IN  the  account  of  the  creation  given  by  Moses,  the 
heavenly  bodies  are  spoken  of  merely  with  reference  to 
the  earth,  and  the  living  beings  which  were  created  to 
inhabit  its  surface.  Any  other  view  would  seem  to 
have  been  inconsistent  with  the  design  of  Revelation. 
The  words  of  the  inspired  writer,  therefore,  are,  uGod 
said,  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven, 
to  divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be  for 
signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years  :  and 
let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven,  to 
give  light  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so.  And  God 
made  two  great  lights  ;  the  greater  light  to  rule  the  day, 
and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night :  He  made  the  stars 
also." 

This  account  very  accurately  and  distinctly  enumer- 
ates the  uses  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  so  far  as  the 
inhabitants  of  our  planet  are  concerned  ;  but  there  is 
another,  which  may  be  called  the  philosophical  view  of 
the  subject,  on  which  man  was  wisely  left  to  exercise  his 
own  powers.  This  treats  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  with 


THE   PLANETARY   SYSTEM.  97 

reference  to  each  other,  and  to  the  universe.  Here,  a 
new  and  most  wonderful  scene  opens  to  our  view,  bright 
with  the  glory  of  the  Divine  perfections  ;  and  this,  is  the 
scene  which  now  presents  itself  for  our  consideration. 

Keeping  in  mind  that  our  object  is  not  to  write  a  trea- 
tise on  astronomy,  but  merely  to  point  out  some  remark- 
able facts  in  the  construction  of  Nature,  which  can  only 
be  referred  to  an  intelligent  and  benevolent  First  Cause, 
let  us  look  more  minutely  at  the  appearances  of  the 
starry  heavens.  Besides  the  moon,  which  shall  be  after- 
ward considered,  one  of  the  first  things  which  strike  an 
observer,  is,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  stars,  though  ap- 
parently in  constant  motion  round  a  point  from  east  to 
west,  occasioned  by  the  diurnal  movement  of  the  earth, 
are  yet  stationary, — or,  in  other  words,  preserve,  gener- 
ally speaking,  the  same  relative  position, — with  reference 
to  each  other  ;  but  that  there  are  a  very  few  of  those  lamps 
of  night  which  follow  a  different  law,  continually  chang- 
ing their  place,  and  making  progress  among  the  rest, 
from  west  to  east,  with  different  degrees  of  velocity.  It 
was  discovered,  too,  as  soon  as  the  telescope  was  applied 
to  the  heavens,  that,  while  no  known  magnifying  power 
could  increase  the  apparent  dimensions  of  the  fixed  stars, 
these  moving  bodies  were  readily  affected  by  that  instru- 
ment. Such  circumstances  indicated  an  essential  differ- 
ence in  the  nature  of  the  two  classes  of  stars  ;  and,  in 
the  progress  of  science,  it  was  found  that  the  latter  were 
no  other  than  bodies  partaking  of  the  conditions  of  our 
own  globe,  and  moving,  like  the  earth,  in  a  constant  or- 
bit round  the  sun.  These  are  called  planets. 

To  the  ancients  only  five  planets  were  known, — Mer- 
cury,Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn.  To  this  list, 
modern  science  has  added  the  Earth, — which  takes  its 
place,  with  relation  to  its  distance  from  the  sun,  between 
Venus  and  Mars, — and  Uranus,  or  Georgium  Sidus,  [or 
Herschel,]  which  is  the  most  distant  of  them  all.  Besides 
these,  a  still  later  discovery  has  been  made,  of  four  other 
planetary  bodies,  which  move  in  orbits  considerably  more 
eccentric  than  the  rest,  and  are  of  much  smaller  dimen- 
sions, whose  situation  has  been  found  to  be  between  Mars 
i.  9  vii. 


98  THE    STARRY   HEAVENS. 

and  Jupiter.  All  these  planets  are  nearly  globular,  and 
each  moves  round  its  own  axis,  as  well  as  round  the  sun. 
Some  of  them  have  attendant  bodies,  called  satellites,  of 
which  our  moon  is  an  example,  moving  round  their  pri- 
mary planets,  nearly  in  the  same  plane  in  which  the  latter 
revolve  round  the  sun,  and  nearly  also  in  a  similar  orbit. 
Now,  of  the  orbit  of  these  bodies,  the  sun,  as  has  been 
observed,  is  the  centre ;  and  the  first  observation  which 
may  be  made  in  reference  to  this  arrangement,  as  indi- 
cating wise  design,  is,  that  this  central  body  is  the  source 
of  light  and  heat.  Had  the  world  been,  as  the  atheist 
contends,  a  mere  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms, — grant- 
ing, for  the  present,  that  other  arrangements  might  be 
accounted  for,  on  causes  entirely  mechanical,  inherent  in 
the  constitution  of  matter, — there  seems  to  be  no  reason 
deducible  from  such  causes,  why  the  great  body,  whose 
enormously  superior  size  constituted  it  the  centre  of 
motion  to  the  smaller  globes,  should,  at  the  same  time,  be 
endowed  with  those  peculiar  properties  so  essential  to 
the  very  existence  of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  How 
comes  it, that  any  of  the  bodies  belonging  to  our  system 
should  shed  light  and  warmth  over  the  rest,  and  that,  of 
these,  only  one  should  be  endowed  with  such  properties? 
If  this  can  be  accounted  for,  then  why  does  that  body 
occupy  the  position  at  the  centre, — the  only  position,  be 
it  observed,  which  could  render  these  life-sustaining  prop- 
perties  available  for  the  purpose  ?  There  seems  to  be 
no  possible  reason,  except  that  of  Creative  Intelligence, 
why  the  illuminating  body  should  not  be  one  of  the  plan- 
ets ;  and,  if  that  had  been  the  case,  how  irregular,  and 
how  totally  inefficient  would  have  been  the  operation. 

This  proof  of  contrivance,  which  is  strikingly  and  con- 
vincingly illustrated  by  Whewell,  attracted  the  attention 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  himself.  In  his  correspondence 
with  Bentley,  he  concedes  that  the  sun  and  fixed  stars 
might  be  formed  by  the  mere  force  of  attraction,  and 
might  exhibit  their  present  appearances,  provided  the  mat- 
ter were  of  a  lucid  nature;  "But,"  adds  he,  "  how 
the  matter  should  divide  itself  into  two  sorts,  and  that  part 
of  it which  is  fit  to  compose  a  shining  body,  should  fall 


THE   SUN  THE   SOURCE   OF  LIGHT  AND   HEAT.         99 

down  into  one  mass,  and  make  a  sun  ;  and  the  rest,  which 
is  fit  to  compose  an  opaque  body,  should  coalesce,  not 
into  one  great  body,  like  the  shining  matter,  but  into 
many  little  ones  ;  or,  if  the  sun  were  at  first  an  opaque 
body,  like  the  planets,  or  the  planets  lucid  bodies,  like 
the  sun,  how  he  alone  should  be  changed  into  a  shining 
body,  whilst  all  they  continued  opaque  ;  or  all  they  be 
changed  into  opaque  ones,  whilst  he  continued  unchanged, 
I  do  not  think  explicable  by  mere  natural  causes,  but  am 
forced  to  ascribe  it  to  the  counsel  and  contrivance  of 
a  Voluntary  Agent." 

It  seems  impossible  that  any  unbiassed  mind  should 
hesitate  to  acquiesce  in  the  conclusion  of  this  great  man  ; 
and  thus,  from  the  very  existence  of  a  sun  in  the  centre 
of  our  system,  a  satisfactory  proof  is  drawn  of  the  being 
of  a  God. 


FOURTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

IV.      THE    STARRY    HEAVENS. THE    SUN    AS    THE    SOURCE    OF 

LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

IN  considering  the  advantages  derived  from  that  ob- 
viously intentional  and  most  wise  arrangement,  by  which 
the  sun  has  been  made  the  centre  of  our  system,  refer- 
ence was  necessarily  made  to  that  body,  as  the  source  of 
light  and  heat.  A  cursory  view  of  some  circumstances 
connected  with  these  properties,  seems,  therefore,  to 
suggest  itself  as  an  appropriate  subject  for  this  day's  con- 
sideration. 

The  sun  is  a  body  of  such  immense  magnitude,  that 
it  fills  a  space  nearly  twice  as  large  as  is  comprehended 
within  the  orbit  of  the  moon  in  its  motion  round  the 
earth, — being  in  diameter  no  less  than  882,000  miles, 
and  in  bulk  considerably  more  than  a  million  of  times 
larger  than  the  earth.  From  this  amazing  orb,  light  and 


100  THE   STARRY   HEAVENS. 

heat  are  in  some  manner  communicated  to  our  planet, 
and  to  all  the  other  planetary  bodies,  with  a  velocity 
which  surpasses  conception,  the  influence,  whatever  it 
is,  travelling  at  the  rate  of  12,000,000  of  miles  in  a  min- 
ute, and  reaching  our  globe  in  something  less  than  eight 
minutes.  It  was  supposed  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  and  has, 
till  lately,  been  assumed  as  a  fact,  that  the  properties  in 
question  were  transmitted  from  the  sun  by  emanation ; 
that  is,  that  he  was  continually  throwing  off  from  his 
surface,  a  material  substance,  of  extreme  tenuity,  pos- 
sessing these  properties.  Late  discoveries,  however,  of 
certain  peculiarities  in  the  nature  of  light,  have  given 
currency  and  probability  to  another  opinion,  namely, 
that  the  sun  is  no  more  than  the  spring  which  communi- 
cates activity  to  qualities  or  substances  residing  in  our 
own  atmosphere,  from  which  the  phenomena  of  light  and 
heat  are  derived.  This,is  called  the  theory  of  vibrations  : 
and  it  has  been  aptly  illustrated  by  the  manner  in  which 
sound  is  caused  and  propagated.  It  supposes  an  ethereal 
fluid  diffused  through  the  universe,  of  inconceivable  rar- 
ity and  elasticity,  to  which  the  luminiferous  vibrations 
are  communicated,  and  through  which  they  are  transmit- 
ted. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  work  to  enter  into  any 
discussion  on  this  curious  subject  ;  and  it  is  enough  for 
our  present  purpose  to  know,  that  the  Creator  has  caused 
the  most  salutary  effects  to  depend  on  the  presence  and 
influence  of  this  central  body.  Whether  by  vibration 
or  by  emanation,  the  properties  of  heat  and  light,  indis- 
pensable to  the  existence  of  organized  beings,  in  all  their 
different  grades,  are,  by  means  of  the  sun,  adequately 
conveyed  to  the  earth,  otherwise  dark  and  dead.  We 
shall  by  and  by  have  occasion  to  notice  some  of  the  quali- 
ties of  heat,  the  partial  absence  of  which,  in  our  cli- 
mate, at  this  season  of  the  year,  indicates  how  necessary 
this  subtile  agent  is  to  life  and  enjoyment.  Let  us,  at 
present,  look  at  the  kindred  element  of  light,  and  we  shall 
see  that  its  operation  is  scarcely  less  indispensable  in  a 
world  constituted  as  ours. 

It  is  necessary  to  vegetable  life.     Without  light,  in- 


THE   SUN  THE   SOURCE    OF  LIGHT  AND   HEAT.       101 

deed,  vegetables  might  grow.  Some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant powers  of  vegetation  are  carried  on  under  ground 
and  in  darkness,  and  the  energies  residing  in  the  roots 
are  sufficient  to  cause  the  plant  to  shoot  forth  its  stem, 
and  even  to  expand  its  leaves  ;  but  then,  light  is  essential 
to  the  health,  and,  as  it  would  seem,  to  the  productive 
powers  of  plants,  so  that,  without  this  genial  influence, 
they  could  not  survive  beyond  one  generation.  Color, 
and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  strength  of  fibre,  also,  are 
bestowed  on  vegetables  by  the  influence  of  light,  a  cir- 
cumstance which  is  familiar  to  gardeners,  who  blanche 
their  celery,  and  other  productions,  by  causing  them  to 
grow  in  the  dark  ;  and  which  is  known  to  every  one 
who  has  observed  the  colorless  and  feeble  shoots  of  po- 
tatoes, for  example,  which  happen  to  grow  in  a  cellar  or 
a  pit,  and  the  wonderful  instinct  which  leads  these  shoots 
eagerly  to  extend  in  the  direction  of  the  slightest  chink 
through  which  light  is  introduced.  The  manner  in  which 
light  operates  in  bestowing  a  wholesome  state  on  plants, 
appears  to  be  by  a  chemical  action,  by  which  they  are 
enabled  to  imbibe  carbon,  and  disengage  oxygen.  In 
the  absence  of  light,  this  action  is  reversed  ;  and  it  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  the  operation  of  this  agent,  in  the 
process  of  vegetation,  is  not  only  healthful  to  the  plant, 
but  also  useful  to  animal  life,  in  freeing  the  atmosphere 
from  some  noxious  qualities,  and  restoring  it  to  a  salubri- 
ous condition.  It  seems  unnecessary  to  remark,  that 
there  is  here  the  unequivocal  impress  of  Designing  Intel- 
ligence. 

It  is  further  obvious,  that  the  influence  of  light  on  vege- 
tables, is  extended  likewise  to  animal  life,  which  derives 
its  support  from  these  productions.  But  this  is  not  all  : 
for,  on  living  creatures,  its  more  direct  effects  are  not 
less  necessary.  This  agent  is  essential  to  sight,  a  facul- 
ty of  such  paramount  importance  ;  and  the  eye,  an  organ 
of  most  curious  and  peculiar  construction,  is,  beyond  all 
doubt,  framed  for  the  express  purpose  of  receiving  its 
impressions.  Nothing  can  be  more  worthy  of  observa- 
tion, than  the  manner  in  which  the  instrument  of  vision 
is  adapted  to  the  properties  of  the  agent.  Light  is  re- 
9* 


102  THE    STARRY   HEAVENS. 

fleeted,  in  all  directions,  from  every  object  on  which  it 
falls  ;  and,  by  the  construction  of  a  camera  obscura  most 
skilfully  contrived,  these  reflected  rays  convey  form, 
color,  light,  and  shade, — a  perfect  representation,  in 
short,  of  external  objects, — into  the  interior  of  the  head ; 
thus,  by  a  mysterious  connexion  between  mind  and  mat- 
ter, giving  rise,  in  living  beings,  to  the  faculty  of  sight, 
with  all  its  wellknown  properties  and  advantages.  Who 
can  doubt  that  there  is  here  a  proof  of  skill  and  adaptation, 
— that  light  was  made  for  the  eye,  and  the  eye  for 
light  ? 


FOURTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

V.  THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. MOTIONS  OF  THE  PLANETS. 

As  the  fountain  of  light  and  heat  is  placed,  by  the 
great  Creator,  for  obviously  wise  reasons,  in  the  centre 
of  our  planetary  system,  it  is  natural  to  expect,  that  all 
the  arrangements  connected  with  this  appointment,  should 
be  found  so  contrived,  as  to  correspond  with  the  benefi- 
cent intention ;  and  the  more  deeply  we  inquire  into  the 
subject,  the  more  distinctly  do  we  observe  such  an  ex- 
pectation realized.  The  object  of  the  present  paper  will 
be  to  illustrate  this  position,  with  reference  to  the  mo- 
tions of  the  planetary  bodies. 

And  first,  with  regard  to  their  orbits.  We  have  al- 
ready stated,  that  a  planet,  in  its  path  round  the  sun, 
may,  according  to  the  laws  of  motion,  describe  either  an 
oval  or  a  perfect  circle.  I  have  now  to  observe,  that  the 
oval  might  either  be  very  long  or  very  short,  there  being, 
so  far  as  appears,  nothing  in  the  mechanical  law  tending 
to  restrict  the  elliptical  form.  But  it  is  obvious,  that,  if 
the  circuit  should  prove  very  eccentric,  the  greatest  in- 
conveniences would  take  place,  in  a  world  constituted 
like  ours  ;  and,  indeed,  a  total  destruction  of  animal  life 
would  be  the  necessary  consequence  ;  because,  at  the 


MOTIONS    OF  THE   PLANETS.  103 

point  of  the  orbit  nearest  the  sun,  the  fervor  of  his  rays 
would  be  destructive  ;  and,  at  its  greatest  distance,  his 
apparent  size,  and  his  illuminating  and  warming  power, 
would  diminish  together,  till  the  land  and  the  sea  would 
yield  equally  to  the  ungenial  influence,  and  be  converted 
into  one  frozen  and  lifeless  mass.  Among  the  almost 
numberless  forms,  therefore,  which  the  orbits  of  the  plan- 
ets might  assume,  the  production  and  maintenance  of 
organized  existences,  such,  at  least,  as  those  with  which 
we  are  familiar,  required  that  a  selection  should  be  made 
within  narrow  limits  ;  and  that  selection  has  been  made. 
Every  one  of  the  planets,  with  the  exception  only  of 
three  of  the  smallest  of  these  bodies,  viz.  Mercury,  Juno, 
and  Pallas,  which  their  peculiar  circumstances  may  ac- 
count for,  move  in  an  orbit  nearly  approaching  to  a  circle. 
The  earth's  orbit,  for  example,  only  deviates  from  an 
exact  circle,  by  the  thirteenth  part  of  its  distance  from 
the  centre  ;  and,  though  the  deviation  of  all  the  other 
planets,  except  Venus,  is  somewhat  more  than  this,  that 
deviation  is  so  small,  unless  in  the  instances  already  al- 
luded to,  that  it  need  scarcely  be  mentioned  as  a  source 
of  inconvenience.  "  Taking  the  solar  system  altogeth- 
er, "  says  Whewell,  "the  regularity  of  its  structure  is 
very  remarkable.  The  diagram,  which  represents  the 
orbits  of  the  planets,  might  have  consisted  of  a  number 
of  ovals,  narrow  and  wide  in  all  degrees,  intersecting  and 
interfering  with  each  other,  in  all  directions.  The  dia- 
gram does  consist,  as  all  who  have  opened  a  book  of 
astronomy  know,  of  a  set  of  figures,  which  appear,  at 
first  sight,  concentric  circles,  and  which  are  very  nearly 
so  ;  no  where  approaching  to  any  crossing  or  interfering, 
except  in  the  case  of  the  small  planets,  already  noticed 
as  irregular.  No  one,  looking  at  this  common  diagram, 
can  believe  that  the  orbits  were  made  to  be  so  nearly 
circles  by  chance,  any  more  than  he  can  believe  that  a 
target,  such  as  archers  are  accustomed  to  shoot  at,  was 
painted  in  concentric  circles  by  the  accidental  dashes  of 
a  brush  in  the  hands  of  a  blind  man." 

Another  peculiarity  in  the  motions  of  the  planets,  is, 
that  they  are  all  in  the  same  direction,  and  nearly  in  the 


104  THE    STARRY  HEAVENS. 

same  plane.  It  is  quite  evident,  that,  had  chance  origi- 
nated these  motions,  they  might,  and  probably  would, 
have  moved  round  the  sun,  both  as  to  direction,  and  as 
to  the  plane  of  their  orbit,  in  very  different  ways.  Now, 
to  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  properties  of  the 
law  of  attraction,  it  will  appear  evident,  that  a  most  im- 
portant object  is  served  by  the  arrangement  which  actu- 
ally subsists.  Let  it  be  observed,  that  such  is  the  extraor- 
dinary nature  of  this  law,  that  every  particle  of  matter 
attracts,  and  is  attracted  by,  every  other  particle,  the 
power,  of  course,  being  greater,  in  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  each  mass,  and  its  nearness.  The  consequence 
of  this  is,  that  not  only  does  the  great  central  mass  attract 
the  smaller  bodies,  so  as  to  cause  them  to  revolve  round 
it,  but  each  of  these  smaller  bodies  also  attracts  the  others  ; 
and  this  mutual  attraction,  which,  it  is  easy  to  perceive, 
must  be  of  a  very  complicated  nature,  and  may  produce 
the  most  extensive  effects,  requires  to  be  nicely  adjusted, 
in  order  to  preserve  the  stability  of  the  system.  If  the 
numerous  globes,  of  which  our  system  is  composed,  were 
to  move  in  their  respective  orbits,  without  any  such  ad- 
justment, our  system  would  be  far  indeed  from  being 
stable.  The  disturbing  forces,  which  might  only  be 
trifling,  when  a  year,  or  even  an  age,  was  considered, 
might,  in  a  long  series  of  ages,  accumulate  to  such  an 
amount,  as  totally  to  disorganize  and  subvert  the  whole 
frame. 

Nor  is  this  a  mere  gratuitous  hypothesis.  Astrono- 
mers have  actually  discovered,  in  our  solar  system,  an 
apparent  tendency  to  derangement.  Changes  have  been 
taking  place,  owing  to  the  cause  just  mentioned,  which, 
at  first  sight,  appear  to  be  of  an  alarming  nature.  The 
eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit  has  been  gradually  di- 
minishing ;  the  moon  has  been  approaching  nearer  the 
earth,  and  accelerating  her  motion  ;  and  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecliptic  has  been  diminishing.  These  changes 
have  been  going  on,  from  the  period  of  the  first  scientific 
observations,  to  the  present  day,  and  are  still  in  progress. 
Are  they  to  continue  without  end  ?  If  so,  the  present 
system  of  things  is  tending  to  destruction. 


RESISTING  MEDIUM.  105 

This  question  has,  by  an  amazing  effort  of  calculation, 
been  satisfactorily  answered.  Aided  by  the  mathemati- 
cal investigations  of  ages,  two  celebrated  French  philo- 
sophers, Lagrange  and  Laplace,  have  solved  the  problem, 
and  have  demonstrated,  that  "  the  planetary  system  will 
only  oscillate  about  a  mean  state,  and  will  never  deviate 
from  it,  except  by  a  very  small  quantity."*  This  re- 
markable result  depends  on  these  three  conditions, — 
that  the  orbits  of  the  planets  are  nearly  circular  ;  that 
these  orbits  are  nearly  in  the  same  plane  ;  and  that  they 
all  move  in  the  same  direction. 

Had  any  one  of  these  conditions  been  different,  the 
equilibrium  of  the  system  would  not  have  been  main- 
tained ;  the  tendencies  to  derangement  would  not  have 
been  counteracted,  but,  on  the  contrary,  year  after  year, 
would  have  been  accelerated  by  accumulation ;  and, 
sooner  or  later,  the  whole  fabric  would  have  broken  up, 
and  been  dissolved  by  its  own  inherent  defect. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  argument,  to  show 
that  the  combination  of  the  various  arrangements  alluded 
to,  could  not  have  occurred  without  design  ; — that  the 
adjustment  is  that  of  an  Intelligent  Cause  ;  and  that  it 
affords  the  clearest  proof  of  consummate  and  adorable 
wisdom. 


FOURTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

VI.  THE  STARRY    HEAVENS. RESISTING  MEDIUM. 

WE  have  seen,  in  the  case  of  the  planets,  including 
also  their  satellites,  that  Supreme  Wisdom  has  so  bal- 
anced our  system,  that  the  disturbing  forces,  to  which 
it  is  subjected  by  the  mutual  attraction  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  will,  in  consequence  of  simple  but  selected  ar- 
rangements, in  the  course  of  ages,  correct  themselves, 

*  Laplace,  Expos,  du  Syst.  du  Monde,  p.  441. 


106  THE    STARRY   HEAVENS. 

so  as  never  to  threaten  any  violent  change  from  such 
mechanical  causes,  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  power  of  attrac- 
tion is  concerned.  This  is  highly  satisfactory,  as  a  de- 
monstration against  the  atheistical  doctrine,  which  would 
exclude  from  the  universe  the  operation  of  a  Designing 
Cause.  It  does  not,  however,  prove  the  absolute  per- 
manency of  the  system,  and  we  know,  from  the  "  more 
sure  word  of  prophecy,"  that  it  is  not  destined  to  last 
for  ever. 

There  is,  indeed,  another  element  to  be  taken  into 
consideration,  which  the  French  philosophers,  already 
alluded  to,  have  overlooked  or  rejected,  but  which  bears 
directly  upon  the  question  of  inherent  stability, — I  mean 
the  question  regarding  a  resisting  medium.  All  their 
calculations  have  been  founded  on  the  two  simple  powers 
of  attraction  and  inertia,  under  the  supposition  that  these 
powers  acted  in  empty  space,  without  the  existence  of 
any  impeding  force.  If  it  be  found,  therefore,  that  a 
resisting  medium  actually  exists  in  the  system  ;  that  is, 
that  there  is  some  fluid  matter,  however  rare,  in  which 
the  celestial  bodies  move,  then  this  one  fact  will  over- 
turn the  conclusion  as  to  the  absolute  and  inherent  per- 
manency of  the  present  system  of  things,  so  far  as  me- 
chanical powers  are  concerned.  Nor  will  this  discovery 
invalidate  the  reasoning  in  the  preceding  paper  ;  for  it 
will  still  remain  a  truth,  worthy  of  the  deepest  admira- 
tion, that  the  plan  was  adopted,  which,  of  all  others,  is 
best  calculated  to  balance  and  counteract  disturbing  forces, 
even  although  other  considerations  should  prove  that  the 
system  was  not  intended  to  be  eternal.  It  is  this  prin- 
ciple which  secures  the  equal  and  salutary  working  of  the 
system  while  it  lasts,  and  which  bestows  upon  it  proper- 
ties suited  for  the  habitation  of  organized  existences, 
during  that  period  ;  and  this  is  the  whole  extent  of  the 
view  for  which  we  have  been  contending. 

Is  there,  then,  a  resisting  medium, — a  fluid  in  which 
our  system  floats  ?  or  are  our  planetary  spheres  wheeled 
in  empty  space  ?  The  diffusion  of  light  throughout  the 
universe,  might,  of  itself,  form  a  powerful  argument  for 
the  existence  of  such  a  medium,  on  whatever  theory  its 


RESISTING  MEDIUM.  107 

properties  are  accounted  for.  Light  is  either  an  emanation 
from  the  great  central  body,  and  then  that  emanation  must 
be  something  material  ;  or  it  is  an  exciting  cause  of  vi- 
bratory motion  ;  and  in  that  case,  the  vibrations  must  ap- 
parently be  conveyed  through  some  material  substance. 
In  either  case,  the  theory  of  an  absolute  vacuum  seems 
to  be  untenable.  But,  independent  of  this  view,  some 
facts  have  been  very  recently  discovered,  which  cannot 
well  be  accounted  for,  but  on  the  supposition  of  a  resist- 
ing medium.  I  allude  to  certain  circumstances  occurring 
in  the  motion  of  one  of  the  comets  belonging  to  our  so- 
lar system,  to  which  the  importance  of  Buckets  observa- 
tions have  justly  caused  that  astronomer's  name  to  be 
attached.  The  revolution  of  this  body  round  the  sun,  is 
found  to  be  completed  in  a  period  of  about  three  years 
and  four  months,  while  its  orbit  is  so  eccentric  and  elon- 
gated, that  it  is  more  than  ten  times  nearer  the  sun  in  one 
part  of  its  course,  than  in  another.  The  materials  of 
which  it  is  composed,  seem  to  be  exceedingly  thin  and 
transparent ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  stars  may  be 
seen  through  the  most  condensed  part  of  its  nucleus,  with- 
out any  apparent  diminution  of  their  brilliancy.  In 
1786,  this  comet  was  first  observed  ;  but  it  was  not  till 
1822,  that  its  periods  were  accurately  determined  ;  and 
then  Encke,  on  comparing  the  calculated  with  the  ob- 
served places,  perceived  a  difference,  which  he  attributed 
to  the  effect  of  a  resisting  medium.  It  was  again  the  sub- 
ject of  observation  in  1825,  in  1828,  and  still  more  re- 
cently ;  and  the  conclusion  has  become  general,  that  the 
obvious  and  constant  disturbance  of  its  course,  arises 
from  no  other  cause  than  that  of  its  being  affected  by  its 
motion  in  an  ethereal  fluid. 

This  fluid,  however,  must  be  of  inconceivable  rarity, 
and  would  probably  not  produce  any  apparent  effect  in 
its  velocity,  were  it  not  from  the  small  quantity  of  mat- 
ter contained  in  the  vapory  sphere,  which,  as  will  easily 
be  perceived,  must  increase  the  power  of  resistance  of  the 
medium  through  which  it  moves.  Light  and  loose,  how- 
ever, as  the  body  is,  it  has  been  found  to  be  acted  on  by 
the  solar  and  planetary  attraction,  in  the  same  manner 


103  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

with  the  other  heavenly  bodies;  and  the  result  having  been 
accurately  calculated,  what  Sir  J.  Herschel  calls  a  re- 
sidual phenomenon,  has  been  discovered,  which  has  giv- 
en rise  to  the  inference  of  a  resisting  medium. 

The  effect,  however,  though  something  very  discern- 
ible, is  yet  but  trifling  ;  and,  what  may  appear  strange, 
this  retardation  of  the  motion,  causes  the  body  to  per- 
form its  revolutions  round  the  sun  more  quickly.  The 
reason  is,  that  the  increasing  slowness  of  the  motion  has 
the  effect  of  augmenting  the  relative  power  of  the  sun's 
attraction,  thus  drawing  the  comet  nearer  to  himself, 
and  shortening  its  orbit.  Within  the  last  fifty  years,  in 
which  its  course  .has  been  observed,  it  has  been  found, 
that,  while  it  has  advanced  about  ten  days  farther  in  its 
path,  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case,  the  time 
of  its  revolution  has  been  diminished  by  about  two  days. 

Now,  the  very  same  power  of  resistance,  which  acts 
so  perceptibly  on  this  unsubstantial  body,  must  act  also 
on  every  other  body  which  passes  through  the  same  me- 
dium ;  and,  however  small  the  effect  produced  may  be, 
it  must  be  something,  which,  though  not,  perhaps,  suffi- 
cient to  produce  any  sensible  effect  on  those  more  solid 
bodies,  for  many  centuries,  must  yet,  in  reference  to  a 
period  of  eternal  duration,  be  sufficient  to  derange,  and 
finally  to  destroy,  the  whole  system.  As  yet,  no  retar- 
dation of  the  planetary  bodies  has  been  observed,  which 
could  be  referred  to  the  existence  of  a  resisting  medium, 
because  our  observations  extend  to  a  period  too  limited  ; 
but  this  may  only  prove  the  extreme  remoteness  of  the 
final  catastrophe.  "It  may  be  millions  of  millions  of 
years,"  says  the  distinguished  author,  whom  we  chiefly 
follow  in  this  part  of  our  work,  u  before  the  earth's  re- 
tardation may  perceptibly  affect  the  apparent  motion  of 
the  sun  ;  but  still  the  day  will  come  (if  the  same  Provi- 
dence which  formed  the  system,  should  permit  it  to  con- 
tinue so  long,)  when  this  cause  will  entirely  change  the 
length  of  the  year,  and  the  course  of  our  seasons,  and 
finally  stop  the  earth's  motion  round  the  sun  altogether. 
The  smallness  of  the  resistance,  however  small  we  choose 
to  suppose  it,  does  not  allow  us  to  escape  this  certainty. 


RESISTING  MEDIUM.  109 

There  is  a  resisting  medium  ;  and  therefore  the  move- 
ments of  the  solar  system  cannot  go  on  for  ever.  The 
moment  such  a  fluid  is  known  to  exist,  the  eternity  of 
the  movements  of  the  planets  becomes  as  impossible  as 
a  perpetual  motion  on  the  earth."* 

The  obvious  use  to  be  made  of  the  fact  now  stated  is, 
that  our  present  system  of  things,  which  must  have  an 
end,  must  also  have  had  a  beginning.  There  must  have 
been  a  period  in  which  the  impulse,  now  proceeding,  ori- 
ginated. A  period  of  commencement  implies  a  cause  ; 
the  order  and  regularity  of  the  system  implies  an  Intelli- 
gent Cause  ;  and  thus  the  idea  of  a  Creator  is  forced 
upon  us  ;  and,  instead  of  an  eternal  operation  of  me- 
chanical powers,  and  an  eternal  succession  of  organized 
existences,  which  is  the  dream  of  the  atheist,  we  see  a 
system,  glorious  with  the  impress  of  a  Divine  hand,  and 
rejoicing  in  the  smile  of  a  present  Deity. 

An  ingenious  living  writer,  after  attributing  the  resist- 
ing medium  to  the  remains  of  the  nebulous  matter  out  of 
which,  according  to  Laplace's  theory,  the  whole  universe 
has  originally  been  formed,  concludes  his  account  of  the 
disturbing  effects  of  that  medium  with  the  following  strik- 
ing observations  : 

u  The  idea  of  the  ultimate  dissolution  of  the  solar 
system  has  usually  been  felt  as  painful,  and  forcibly  resisted 
by  philosophers.  When  Newton  saw  no  end  to  the  de- 
ranging effect  of  the  common  planetary  perturbations,  he 
called  for  the  special  interference  of  the  Almighty  to 
avert  the  catastrophe  ;  and  great  was  the  rejoicing  when 
a  recent  analyst  descried  a  memorable  power  of  con- 
servation in  our  system's  constituent  phenomena.  But, 
after  all,  why  should  it  be  painful  ?  Absolute  permanence 
is  visible  nowhere  around  us  ;  and  the  fact  of  change 
merely  intimates,  that,  in  the  exhaustless  womb  of  the 
future,  unevolved  wonders  are  in  store.  The  phenomena 
referred  to,  would  simply  point  to  the  close  of  one  mighty 
cycle  in  the  history  of  the  solar  orb, — the  passing  away 
of  arrangements  which  have  fulfilled  their  objects,  that 

*  Wbewell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  200. 
I.  10  vii. 


110  DIVINE  AND  HUMAN 

they  might  be  changed  into  new.  Thus  is  the  periodic 
death  of  a  plant  perhaps  the  essential  to  its  prolonged 
life,  and  when  the  individual  dies  and  disappears,  fresh 
and  vigorous  forms  spring  from  the  elements  which  com- 
posed it.  Mark  the  chrysalis  !  It  is  the  grave  of  the 
worm,  but  the  cradle  of  the  sunborn  insect.  The  broken 
bowl  will  yet  be  healed  and  beautified  by  the  potter  ;  and 
a  voice  of  joyful  note  will  awaken,  one  day,  even  the 
silence  of  the  urn. 

u Nay,  what  though  all  should  pass!  What  though 
the  close  of  this  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  solar  orb, 
should  be  accompanied,  as  some,  by  a  strange  fondness, 
have  imagined,  by  the  dissolution  and  disappearing  of 
all  these  shining  spheres  ?  Then  would  our  universe 
not  have  failed  in  its  functions,  but  only  been  gathered 
up  and  rolled  away,  these  functions  being  complete. 
That  gorgeous  material  framework  wherewith  the  Eter- 
nal hath  adorned  and  varied  the  abysses  of  space,  is  only 
an  instrument  by  which  the  myriads  of  spirits  borne  upon 
its  orbs,  may  be  told  of  their  origin,  and  educated  for 
more  exalted  being  ;  and  a  time  may  come,  when  the 
veil  can  be  drawn  aside, — when  spirit  shall  converse  di- 
rectly with  spirit,  and  the  creature  gaze  without  hinder- 
ance  on  the  effulgent  face  of  the  Creator."* 


FIFTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

DIVINE    AND    HUMAN    KNOWLEDGE    COMPARED. 

WHEN  the  philosopher  compares  his  knowledge  of  ex- 
ternal nature  with  that  of  his  fellow-men  not  conversant 
with  such  high  studies,  there  is  danger  of  his  becoming 

*  Dr.  Nichol,  '  On  the  Architecture  of  the  Heavens,'  pp.  189—192, 
a  work  containing  a  beautiful  popular  view  of  the  recent  discoveries  of 
the  two  Herschels,  and  other  modern  astronomers,  published  in  June, 
1837. 


KNOWLEDGE   COMPARED.  Ill 

vain  of  his  attainments.  He  has  unbarred  the  gate  of 
science,  and  penetrated  the  mysteries  of  creation.  He 
follows  the  course  of  the  sun,  and  measures  the  stars, 
and  unravels  the  mystic  changes  of  the  planets,  and  dis- 
covers new  worlds  in  distant  space,  and  puts  his  finger 
on  the  law  which  sustains,  impels,  and  guides  the  im- 
mense machine  of  the  universe.  This  sounds  proudly  ; 
and  if  we  only  consider  the  limited  faculties  of  man,  his 
attainments  are  undoubtedly  worthy  of  admiration ;  but 
wrhen  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  Divine  perfections,  they 
dwindle  and  disappear.  With  reference  to  these,  the 
capacity  of  man  to  acquire  knowledge  is  extremely  lim- 
ited. As  he  advances  but  a  few  steps  beyond  the  ordi- 
nary train  of  his  ideas,  he  is  lost  in  the  immensity  of  his 
own  conceptions.  He  has  not  faculties  to  grasp  the 
wonders  even  with  which  he  is  more  immediately  sur- 
rounded, and  how  much  less  to  form  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  Self-existent !  Let 
any  man  reflect,  for  an  instant,  on  the  Divine  attributes 
of  Eternity,  Infinity,  Unchangeableness,  and  he  will  at 
once  perceive  how  imperfectly  he  comprehends  them. 
Who  can  do  this  without  being  awed,  confounded,  and 
bewildered  ?  u  Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  me; 
it  is  high,  I  cannot  attain  unto  it  !" 

But  even  supposing  we  were  capable  of  comprehend- 
ing all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge,  how  extremely  lim- 
ited is  our  sphere  of  observation.  We  are  placed  in  a 
remote  corner  of  creation.  What  a  mere  atom  is  the 
world  which  we  inhabit,  compared  with  the  universe  ! 
Even  if  we  knew  every  thing  under  the  sun, — nay,  if  all 
the  powers  of  Nature  within  our  planetary  system,  with 
all  the  transactions  of  the  whole  animated  creation  which 
it  contains,  lay  naked  and  open  before  us,  how  ignorant, 
even  then,  would  we  be  !  Worlds  on  worlds,  and  sys- 
tems on  systems,  would  still  be  entirely  unknown  to  us. 

But  how  little  do  we  know  even  of  the  earth  which 
we  inhabit  !  We  are  confined  to  a  little  spot  of  this  little 
world.  And  yet,  of  this  diminutive  region,  how  insig- 
nificant is  the  space  with  which  we  are  acquainted  !  And 
even  of  the  objects  within  our  view,  how  ignorant  are 


112  DIVINE  AND  HUMAN 

we  !  Nay,  of  the  things  with  which  we  are  most  familiar, 
what  do  we  know  !  We  observe  their  outward  appear- 
ance,— we  can  tell  what  they  are  to  the  eye,  to  the  ear, 
and  to  the  touch  ;  but  what  they  are  in  their  own  nature, 
the  greatest  philosopher  cannot  so  much  as  conjecture. 
Indeed,  the  very  production  of  organized  existences,  is 
an  impenetrable  mystery.  Who  can  define  the  secret 
power  by  which  a  single  blossom  of  the  spring  germi- 
nates and  grows,  opening  its  beauties  to  the  sun,  and  em- 
balming the  air  with  its  perfume  ? 

Compared  with  this  stinted  portion  of  knowledge,  how 
amazing  is  the  knowledge  of  God  !  As  He  made  all 
things,  He  must  be  intimately  acquainted,  not  only  with 
their  properties,  but  with  their  very  essence.  His  eye, 
at  the  same  instant,  surveys  all  the  works  of  His  im- 
measurable creation  ; — He  observes,  not  only  the  com- 
plicated system  of  the  universe,  but  the  slightest  motion 
of  the  most  minute  microscopic  insect ; — not  only  the 
sublimest  conceptions  of  angels,  but  the  meanest  pro- 
pensity of  the  most  worthless  of  His  creatures.  At  this 
moment,  He  is  listening  to  the  praises  breathed  by  grate- 
ful hearts  in  distant  worlds,  and  reading  every  grovelling 
thought  which  passes  through  the  polluted  mind  of  the 
most  sinful  inhabitant  of  earth  ! 

Another  difference  between  Divine  and  human  knowl- 
edge, arises  from  the  limited  term  of  man's  existence, 
and  the  limited  extent  of  his  memory.  Threescore  and 
ten  years  sum  up  the  days  of  his  earthly  career.  In  that 
short  period,  how  little  can  he  learn  !  How  much  of  that 
little  does  he  lose  by  inattention,  or  by  defect  of  memory 
and  judgement !  From  books,  indeed,  he  may  acquire 
some  knowledge  of  the  past ;  and  from  Revelation,  still 
more,  not  only  of  the  past,  but  of  the  present  and  fu- 
ture. But  of  what  we  learn  from  the  works  of  fallible 
men,  if  we  were  to  deduct  all  that  is  false  or  doubtful, 
how  little  would  remain  !  And  even  of  the  unerring  ora 
cles  of  God,  how  much  is  there  that  we  cannot  fully 
comprehend  ! 

To  this,  also,  what  a  contrast  do  we  find  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  God !  At  one  view,  He  surveys  the  past,  the 


KNOWLEDGE   COMPARED.  113 

present,  and  the  future.  No  inattention  prevents  Him 
from  observing  ;  no  defect  of  memory  or  of  judgement 
obscures  His  comprehension.  In  His  remembrance,  are 
stored  not  only  the  transactions  of  this  world,  but  of  all 
the  worlds  in  the  universe  ; — not  only  the  events  of  the 
six  thousand  years  which  have  passed  since  the  earth  was 
created,  but  of  a  duration  without  beginning.  Nay, 
things  to  come,  extending  to  a  duration  without  end,  are 
also  before  Him.  An  eternity  past,  and  an  eternity  to 
come,  are,  at  the  same  moment,  in  His  eye  ;  and  with 
that  eternal  eye,  He  surveys  infinity.  How  amazing  ! 
How  inconceivable  ! 

But  while  we  thus  do  homage  to  the  perfections  of  the 
Eternal,  let  us  not  undervalue  the  studies  by  which  these 
perfections  are  elucidated.  Though,  when  compared 
with  the  Divine  mind,  the  mind  even  of  a  Newton  must 
sink  into  utter  insignificance  ;  yet,  to  feeble  man,  it  is 
great, — it  is  admirable, — to  have  removed  the  veil  which 
lay  on  the  face  of  Nature; — to  have  pierced,  with  keen 
glance,  to  the  suns  of  other  systems,  and  to  have  known 
the  law,  so  simple  and  so  sublime,  by  which  the  beauty, 
order,  and  harmony  of  the  universe,  are  sustained.  By 
enlarging  our  views  of  Nature,  the  philosopher  enlarges 
our  conceptions  of  Nature's  God.  He  throws  new  light 
on  the  power,  the  wisdom,  and  the  infinity  of  the  Crea- 
tor ; — and  this  is  well :  but  it  is  not  enough.  Without  a 
higher  principle,  his  knowledge  is  ignorance  ;  his  wis- 
dom is  folly  ;  his  light  is  darkness.  Every  discovery 
which  extends  our  conceptions  of  the  Divine  power, 
while  it  hides  from  our  view  the  beauty  and  grace  of  his 
paternal  character,  only  places  man  at  a  more  awful  dis- 
tance from  his  Maker,  and  surrounds  the  throne  of  the 
Eternal  with  new  terrors,  till,  in  the  full  blaze  of  the 
Godhead,  the  corrupted  child  of  earth  shrinks, — is  con- 
sumed,— is  annihilated  ! 

O  !  how  unspeakably  more  cheering  and  glorious, — 
how  infinitely  better  adapted  to  our  condition  and  our 
wants,  would  be  a  simple  message  from  the  unseen  world, 
intimating  favor  to  the  sinful  and  perishing  race  of  Adam. 
And  that  message  has  been  sent  !  The  Almighty  has 
10* 


114  THE    STARRY  HEAVENS. 

broken  the  silence  of  Nature,  and  sent  that  message  by 
his  own  Son. 


FIFTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

VII.  THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. THE  SATELLITES. 

WE  have  considered  the  arrangements  of  the  planetary 
system,  in  reference  to  its  stability,  and  to  the  diffusion 
of  light  and  heat ;  but  there  is  a  contrivance  of  a  differ- 
ent kind,  which  seems  to  require  a  slight  notice.  The 
existence  of  satellites,  or  secondary  planets,  as  they  are 
called,  is  a  striking  concomitant  of  the  system.  These 
smaller  bodies  attend  the  primary  planets  in  their  course 
round  the  sun,  partaking  of  their  motion,  and  at  the 
same  time  wheeling  round  them,  in  an  orbit  of  their  own, 
at  greater  or  less  distances.  Now,  it  has  been  remarked, 
that,  speaking  generally,  these  moons  are  bestowed  as 
attendants  on  the  planets,  in  some  relation  to  their  dis- 
tance from  the  sun,  increasing  in  number  in  proportion  as 
we  recede  from  that  luminary.  The  inferior  planets, 
that  is,  those  that  are  nearer  the  sun  than  our  earth,  have 
none.  The  earth  has  one  ;  Jupiter,  which  is  five  times 
more  distant  from  the  sun  than  our  planet,  has  four ;  Sat- 
urn, which  nearly  doubles  the  distance  of  Jupiter,  has 
seven,  besides  the  curious  anomaly  of  a  ring  ;  Uranus  is 
known  to  have  five,  and  may,  in  all  probability,  have 
many  more,  which  the  extreme  remoteness  of  his  situa- 
tion, at  the  distance  of  one  billion  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirteen  millions  of  miles,  may  well  render  invisible,  even 
with  the  use  of  our  best  instruments.  Supposing,  how- 
ever, that  this  is  the  case,  there  are  still  exceptions  to 
the  rule  of  increase.  Mars,  and  the  four  other  planetary 
bodies  which  are  stationed  between  the  Earth  and  Jupi- 
ter, have  no  attendants.  As  to  the  ultra-zodiacal  plan- 
ets, the  peculiarity  of  their  condition  might  lead  us  to 
expect  this  deviation  ;  and  though  it  may  be  more  diffi- 


THE    SATELLITES.  115 

cult  to  account  for  the  want  of  an  attendant  in  the  case 
of  Mars,  there  are  few  who,  on  this  account,  will  with- 
hold their  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  general  observation. 

What  purpose,  then,  do  these  secondary  planets  serve  ? 
This  question  has  been  well  answered  by  Mr.  Whewell, 
in  reference  to  our  own  moon,  and  in  refutation  of  the 
skeptical  doubts  of  Laplace.  "A  person  of  ordinary 
feelings,"  observes  this  sound  philosopher,  u  who,  on  a 
fine  moonlight  night,  sees  our  satellite  pouring  her  mild 
radiance  on  field  and  town,  path  and  moor,  will,  probably, 
not  only  be  disposed  to  '  bless  the  useful  light,'  but  also 
to  believe  that  it  was  ordained  for  that  purpose  ;  that  the 
lesser  light  was  made  to  rule  the  night,  as  certainly  as 
the  greater  light  was  made  to  rule  the  day. 

"  Laplace,  however,  does  not  assent  to  this  belief.  He 
observes,  that  '  some  partisans  of  final  causes  have  ima- 
gined that  the  moon  was  given  to  the  earth  to  afford 
light  during  the  night ;'  but  he  remarks  that  this  cannot 
be  so,  for  that  we  are  often  deprived  at  the  same  time  of 
the  light  of  the  sun  and  of  the  moon,  and  he  points  out 
how  the  moon  might  have  been  placed  so  as  to  be  always 
'full.' 

u  That  the  light  of  the  moon  affords,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, a  supplement  to  the  light  of  the  sun,  will  hardly  be 
denied.  If  we  take  man  in  a  condition  in  which  he  uses 
artificial  light  scantily  only,  or  not  at  all,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  moonlight  nights  are  for  him  a  very  impor- 
tant addition  to  the  time  of  daylight.  And,  as  a  small 
proportion,  only,  of  the  whole  number  of  nights  are  with- 
out some  portion  of  moonlight,  the  fact,  that  sometimes 
both  luminaries  are  invisible,  very  little  diminishes  the 
value  of  this  advantage.  Why  we  have  not  more  moon- 
light, either  in  duration  or  in  quantity,  is  an  inquiry, 
which  a  philosopher  could  hardly  be  tempted  to  enter 
upon  by  any  success  which  has  attended  previous  specu- 
lations of  a  similar  nature.  Why  should  not  the  moon 
be  ten  times  as  large  as  she  is  ?  Why  should  not  the 
pupil  of  a  man's  eye  be  ten  times  as  large  as  it  is,  so  as 
to  receive  more  of  the  light  which  does  arrive  ?  We  do 
not  conceive,  that  our  inability  to  answer  the  latter  ques- 


116  THE    STARRY   HEAVENS. 

tion,  prevents  our  knowing  that  the  eye  was  made  for 
seeing  ;  nor  does  our  inability  to  answer  the  former,  dis- 
turb our  persuasion,  that  the  moon  was  made  to  give  light 
upon  the  earth."* 

To  show  that  the  light  derived  from  the  moon  exhibits 
no  proof  of  an  Intelligent  Cause,  Laplace  undertakes  to 
suggest  a  better  arrangement  himself,  and  points  out  a 
position  of  that  luminary,  which  would  always  cause  her 
to  appear  full  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Whe- 
well  answers  this  suggestion  by  proving,  that  such  a  posi- 
tion could  only  be  found  by  placing  the  moon  four  times 
farther  from  us  than  she  is  at  present,  which  would  di- 
minish her  apparent  size  no  less  than  sixteen  times,  and, 
of  course,  proportionally  diminish  her  light.  Whether 
or  not  this  arrangement  would  be  preferable  to  the  pres- 
ent, may  well  be  doubted  ;  but  even  if  its  superiority 
could  be  demonstrated,  it  seems  doubtful  if  the  influence 
of  the  disturbing  forces,  which,  on  such  a  supposition, 
would  certainly  act  more  powerfully,  would  suffer  the  ar- 
rangement to  be  stable. 

But,  even  allowing  the  full  force  to  Laplace's  objec- 
tion, which  the  validity  of  his  suggestion  could  with  any 
show  of  reason  afford,  it  amounts,  after  all,  just  to  this, 
that  the  provision  thus  made  for  the  comfort  and  happi- 
ness of  living  creatures,  and  especially  of  man,  is  mingled 
with  imperfection  and  privation.  Is  not  this,  however, 
the  precise  character  which  is  inscribed  on  all  sublunary 
things  ?  and  does  not  the  analogy  which  we  here  discover, 
serve  to  confirm  the  very  view  of  the  Divine  perfections, 
as  exhibited  in  his  works,  with  reference  to  the  moral 
government  of  the  human  race,  which  I  have  been  en- 
deavoring all  along  to  establish  ?  This  is  a  checkered 
scene  of  brightness  and  gloom,  of  sunshine  and  shade,  of 
enjoyment  and  depression  ;  and  such  is  the  discipline 
best  suited  to  our  fallen  condition. 

In  turning  from  our  own  satellite  to  those  of  the  other 
planets,  a  similar  train  of  reasoning  may  be  applied. 
These  nightly  luminaries,  attached  to  Jupiter,  Saturn, 

*Whewell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  174. 


PROPORTIONS    OF  THE   PLANETARY   SYSTEM.       117 

and  Uranus,  certainly  compensate,  in  some  degree,  by 
their  numbers,  for  the  increased  deficiency  of  light  arising 
from  the  remoteness  of  their  primaries  from  the  sun. 
This  view  will  not  be  successfully  redargued  by  the  fact 
already  stated,  that  Mars,  and  the  four  small  planets,  still 
more  distant  than  he  from  the  source  of  light,  are  desti- 
tute of  these  useful  appendages.  The  answer  to  such  an 
objection  just  is,  that,  according  to  the  analogy  of  crea- 
tion, we  may  expect  exceptions  for  which  we  may  be 
altogether  incapable  of  assigning  an  adequate  cause  ;  but 
the  ignorance  inherent  in  our  limited  views,  can  never 
invalidate  the  evidence  of  facts  and  principles  clearly 
established. 


FIFTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

VIII.     THE    STARRY     HEAVENS. RELATIVE     PROPORTIONS    OF 

THE  PLANETARY  SYSTEM. 

BEFORE  concluding  our  remarks  on  the  system  with 
which  we  are  more  immediately  connected,  it  may  be. 
useful  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  whole,  in  its  rela- 
tive proportions,  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  form  to  our- 
selves some  idea  of  the  enormous  scale  on  which  even 
our  comparatively  diminutive  department  of  the  universe 
is  constructed.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  the  mind 
to  compare  very  great  things  with  each  other  ;  because, 
beyond  a  certain  point,  all  proportions  seem  to  be  lost  in 
a  kind  of  undefined  immensity.  We  are  commonly  con- 
versant with  things  on  so  minute  a  scale,  being  ourselves 
mere  atoms,  as  it  were,  of  a  little  planet,  that  it  requires 
an  effort  to  raise  our  thoughts  to  so  vast  a  subject ;  and, 
in  contemplating  it,  we  are,  at  every  step,  forced  to  feel 
the  inadequacy  of  our  own  powers  of  comprehension.  It 
is  reported  of  some  savages,  that  the  scantiness  and  tri- 
fling nature  of  the  objects  which  occupy  their  attention, 
have  so  contracted  their  faculty  of  estimating  quantities, 


118  THE    STARRY  HEAVENS. 

that  they  have  no  means  of  enumeration  beyond  the  num- 
ber of  their  fingers  ;  and  all  groups  of  objects  above  ten 
are  expressed,  in  their  language,  by  a  word  which  implies 
what  is  innumerable,  on  account  of  its  immensity.  We 
are  surprised  at  the  want  of  comprehension  which  this  in- 
dicates ;  but  it  is,  in  reality,  only  a  greater  degree  of  a 
defect  which  belongs  to  the  condition  of  our  nature  and 
circumstances  as  human  beings  ;  and  the  astronomer  him- 
self, familiar  as  he  is  with  numbers  and  quantities,  the 
very  statement  of  which  startles  a  less  practised  mind, 
comes  quickly  to  a  point,  at  which,  though  his  mechani- 
cal power  of  calculation  may  continue,  his  imagination 
flags,  his  judgement  is  confounded,  and  he  finds  himself 
much  in  the  state  of  the  untutored  savage. 

The  author  from  whom  we  yesterday  made  an  interest- 
ing quotation,  adverting  to  this  difficulty,  has  taken  an 
ingenious  method  of  bringing  the  relative  proportions 
and  distances  of  the  bodies  connected  with  our  system, 
nearer  to  a  level  with  a  common  apprehension,  by  re- 
ducing their  dimensions.  "If  we  suppose  the  earth," 
says  he,  uto  be  represented  by  a  globe,  a  foot  in  diame- 
ter, the  distance  of  the  sun  from  the  earth  will  be  about 
two  miles  ;  the  diameter  of  the  sun,  on  the  same  suppo- 
sition, will  be  something  above  a  hundred  feet ;  and,  con- 
sequently, his  bulk  such  as  might  be  made  up  of  two 
hemispheres,  each  about  the  size  of  the  dome  of  St. 
Paul's.  The  moon  will  be  thirty  feet  from  us,  and  her 
diameter  three  inches, — about  that  of  a  cricket  ball. 
Thus,  the  sun  would  much  more  than  occupy  all  the 
space  within  the  moon's  orbit.  On  the  same  scale,  Jupi- 
ter would  be  above  ten  miles  from  the  sun,  and  Uranus 
forty.  We  see,  then,  how  thinly  scattered  through  space 
are  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  fixed  stars  would  be  at 
an  unknown  distance  ;  but,  probably,  if  all  distances  were 
thus  diminished,  no  star  would  be  nearer  to  such  a  one- 
foot  earth,  than  the  moon  now  is  to  us.  On  such  a  ter- 
restrial globe,  the  highest  mountains  would  be  about  one 
eightieth  of  an  inch  high,  and,  consequently,  only  just  dis- 
tinguishable. We  may  imagine,  therefore,  how  imper- 
ceptible would  be  the  largest  animals.  The  whole 


PROPORTIONS   OF   THE   PLANETARY   SYSTEM.      119 

organized  covering  of  such  an  earth  would  be  quite  undis- 
coverable  by  the  eye,  except,  perhaps,  by  color,  like  the 
bloom  on  a  plum.* 

"  In  order  to  restore  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  to 
their  true  dimensions,  we  must  magnify  the  length, 
breadth,  and  thickness,  of  every  part  of  our  supposed 
models,  forty  millions  of  times  ;  and,  to  preserve  the  pro- 
portions, we  must  increase  equally  the  distances  of  the 
sun  and  of  the  stars  from  us.  They  seem  thus  to  pass 
off  into  infinity  ;  yet  each  of  them,  thus  removed,  has  its 
system  of  mechanical,  and  perhaps  of  organic,  processes, 
going  on  upon  its  surface."! 

While,  by  the  process  of  diminution,  we  are  enabled 
to  form  a  clearer  estimate  of  the  relations  of  those  vast 
bodies  which  exist  in  our  system,  we  may  accomplish  a 
similar  object  by  magnifying  those  which,  from  their  mi- 
nuteness, strain  our  imagination  on  the  other  side.  By 
far  the  greater  part  of  organized  beings  are  so  small,  that 
the  human  eye,  in  its  naked  state,  formed  only  for  the  dis- 
cernment of  objects  of  practical  utility,  cannot  detect 
them.  These  the  microscope  discloses  ;  and,  while  they 
thus  become  apparent  to  the  sight,  it  requires  a  similar 
process  of  the  mind  to  bring  their  amazing  minuteness 
within  the  scope  of  the  understanding.  "  We  know,"  says 
our  author,  u  that  we  may  magnify  objects  thousands  of 
times,  and  still  discover  fresh  complexities  of  structure. 
If  we  suppose,  therefore,  that  we  thus  magnify  every 
member  of  the  universe,  and  every  particle  of  matter  of 

*  Sir  John  Herschel's  illustration  of  the  relative  magnitudes  and  or- 
bits of  the  planets  is  not  less  striking  : — "  Choose  any  well-levelled 
field  or  bowling-green  :  on  it  place  a  globe,  two  feet  diameter,  this  will 
represent  the  SUN  ;  Mercury  will  be  represented  by  a  grain  of  mustard- 
seed,  on  the  circumference  of  a  circle  164  feet  in  diameter  from  its  or- 
bit ;  Venus,  a  pea,  on  a  circle  284  feet  in  diameter  ;  the  Earth  also  a 
pea,  on  a  circle  of  430  feet  ;  Mars,  a  rather  large  pin's  head,  on  a  cir- 
cle of  654  feet ;  Juno,  Ceres,  Vesta,  and  Pallas,  grains  of  sand,  in 
orbits  of  from  1000  to  1200  feet ;  Jupiter,  a  moderate  sized  orange,  on 
a  circle  nearly  half  a  mile  across  ;  Saturn,  a  small  orange  on  a  circle 
of  four  fifths  of  a  mile  ;  and  Uranus,  a  full-sized  cherry  or  small  plum, 
upon  the  circumference  of  a  circle  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  in  diam- 
eter." 

t  Whewell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  pp.  273,  274. 


120  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

which  it  consists,  we  may  imagine  that  we  make  per- 
ceptible to  our  senses  the  vast  multitude  of  organized 
adaptations  which  lie  hid  on  every  side  of  us  ;  and,  in 
this  manner,  we  approach  toward  an  estimate  of  the  ex- 
tent through  which  we  may  trace  the  power  and  skill  of 
the  Creator,  by  scrutinizing  his  work  with  the  utmost 
subtilty  of  our  faculties." 

These  views  are  calculated  to  impress  the  mind  with 
very  elevated  and  interesting  conceptions  of  the  stupen- 
dous nature  of  those  Divine  perfections,  by  which  our 
system  was  originally  called  into  existence,  and  is  still 
upheld  and  governed  ;  but  it  is,  after  all,  but  the  entrance 
to  a  survey  of  the  universe.  The  planetary  system  to 
which  we  belong,  is  but  that  of  a  single  star  ;  and,  when 
we  cast  our  eye  over  the  heavens,  and  endeavor  to  rouse 
our  faculties  to  the  comprehension  of  the  fact,  that  every 
one  of  those  little  twinkling  lights  with  which  the  blue 
vault  is  bespangled,  with  the  exception  only  of  those  few 
which  are  known  to  change  their  relative  positions,  is  a 
sun  like  our  own,  and  that  each  of  them  has,  in  all  prob- 
ability, a  planetary  system  analogous  to  ours,  wre  want 
words  to  express  the  sublimity  of  the  conception,  and 
receive  a  more  vivid  impression  of  the  feeling  of  the  poet 
of  the  Seasons,  when,  overpowered  by  the  vastness  of 
his  subject,  he  exclaims, 

"  I  lose 

Myself  in  HIM — in  light  ineffable  ! 

Come,  then,  expressive  silence — muse  His  praise." 


FIFTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

IX.  THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. DISTANCE  OF  THE  FIXED  STARS. 

THE  precise  distance  of  any  of  the  fixed  stars  cannot 
be  ascertained  by  such  means  as  have  hitherto  been  em- 
ployed by  astronomers,  although  it  may  be  considered  as 


DISTANCE    OF   THE   FIXED   STARS.  121 

certain  that  the  nearest  of  them  does  not  approach  our 
sun  so  near  as  nineteen  billions  of  miles  !  The  calculation 
by  which  this  inconceivable  distance  is  established,  is 
entirely  satisfactory,  and  may  readily  be  understood.  I 
shall  state  it  in  as  popular  a  manner  as  I  can.  As  the 
earth  moves  round  the  sun  at  the  average  distance  of  about 
95,000,000  of  miles,  it  follows  that  she  must  be  nearer 
those  fixed  stars  that  lie  in  the  plane  of  her  orbit,  at  one 
period  of  the  year  than  at  another,  by  double  that  dis- 
tance, or  190,000,000  of  miles  ;  but  it  has  been  found 
that  an  approach  of  this  immense  amount  makes  not  the 
very  slightest  perceptible  alteration  in  the  apparent  size 
of  these  bodies  ;  and  hence  we  justly  conclude,  that 
190,000,000  of  miles  is  but  as  a  point  in  comparison  of 
the  space  which  still  intervenes  between  us  and  them. 
On  this  fact,  we  may  form  a  loose  estimate  of  a  distance 
within  which  the  stars,  situated  as  I  have  mentioned, 
cannot  be  stationed.  But  we  must  take  another  and 
somewhat  more  scientific  method  of  judging  with  regard 
to  the  distance  of  those  stars  which  are  otherwise  situated. 
It  might  be  expected,  that  the  vast  diameter  of  the  earth's 
orbit  would  produce  some  perceptible  amount  of  annual 
parallax  in  the  stars  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  in  moving  over 
this  immense  space,  some  change  would  be  effected  in 
their  relative  position,  just  as  a  lateral  movement  of  a 
few  miles  along  a  road  produces  a  change  in  the  outline 
even  of  the  most  distant  hills.  Were  this  the  case,  the 
distance  of  the  stars  might  be  ascertained  with  some  de- 
gree of  accuracy.  But  it  is  not  so  :  "  After  exhausting 
every  refinement,"  says  Sir  John  Herschel,  "  astrono- 
mers have  been  unable  to  come  to  any  positive  or  coinci- 
dent conclusion  upon  this  head  ;  and  it  seems,  therefore, 
demonstrated,  that  the  amount  of  such  parallax,  even  for 
the  nearest  fixed  star  which  has  hitherto  been  examined 
with  the  requisite  attention,  remains  still  mixed  up  with, 
and  concealed  among,  the  errors  incidental  to  all  astro- 
nomical demonstrations.  Now,  such  is  the  nicety  to 
which  these  have  been  carried,  that,  did  the  quantity  in 
question  amount  to  a  single  second,  (that  is,  did  the  radius 
of  the  earth's  orbit  subtend,  at  the  nearest  fixed  star,  that 
i.  11  vn. 


122  THE    STARRY   HEAVENS. 

minute  angle,)  it  could  not  possibly  have  escaped  detec- 
tion and  universal  recognition."  Hence,  by  a  simple 
mathematical  process,  he  is  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
distance  of  the  stars  cannot  be  so  small  as  4,800,000,000 
radii  of  the  earth,  or  19,200,000,000,000  miles  !  But, 
for  any  thing  we  can  tell,  the  very  nearest  of  them  may 
be  much  farther  removed  from  us  than  even  this  incon- 
ceivable distance. 

Now,  with  regard  to  the  size  of  these  bodies,  remote 
as  they  are,  science  has  invented  a  way  of  forming  some 
comparative  estimate.  Dr.  Wollaston,  by  experiments 
on  the  light  of  Sirius,  the  brightest  of  the  fixed  stars,  has 
ascertained  that  his  splendor,  when  it  reaches  our  earth, 
is  twenty  billions  of  times  inferior  in  intensity  to  that  of 
the  sun.  That  the  sun,  therefore,  might  be  made  to 
appear  no  brighter  than  Sirius,  he  would  require  to  be 
removed  from  us  141,400  times  his  actual  distance  ; 
but  this  is  scarcely  two  thirds  of  the  distance  beyond 
which  we  know  the  nearest  fixed  star  to  be  actually 
placed.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  light  of  Sirius, 
and  probably  also  his  bulk,  is  much  greater  than  that  of 
our  sun.  Dr.  Wollaston,  on  data  that  cannot  easily  be 
disputed,  has  assumed  the  distance  of  Sirius  to  be  so 
great,  that  his  intrinsic  light  must  be  nearly  equal  to 
fourteen  suns.  Sir  John  Herschel,  taking  a  more  mod- 
est and  cautious,  but  perhaps  not  truer,  estimate  of  his 
distance,  concludes  that,  u  upon  the  lowest  possible  com- 
putation, the  light  really  thrown  out  by  Sirius,  cannot 
be  so  little  as  double  that  emitted  by  the  sun  ;  or  that 
Sirius  must,  in  point  of  intrinsic  splendor,  be  at  least 
equal  to  two  suns,  and  is,  in  all  probability,  vastly 
greater." 

I  cannot  better  conclude  this  paper,  than  by  the  judi- 
cious remarks  with  which  the  eminent  philosopher,  above 
quoted,  follows  up  his  statements  on  the  size  and  dis- 
tances of  the  fixed  stars.  "  For  what  purpose,"  says 
he,  u  are  we  to  suppose  such  magnificent  bodies  scattered 
over  the  abyss  of  space  ?  Surely  not  to  illuminate  our 
nights,  which  an  additional  moon,  of  the  thousandth  part 
of  the  size  of  our  own,  would  do  much  better  ;  nor  to 


IMMENSITY   OF  THE   UNIVERSE.  123 

sparkle  as  a  pageant,  void  of  meaning  and  reality,  and  be- 
wilder us  among  vain  conjectures.  Useful,  it  is  true, 
they  are  to  man,  as  points  of  exact  and  permanent  ref- 
erence ;  but  he  must  have  studied  astronomy  to  little 
purpose,  who  can  suppose  man  to  be  the  only  object  of 
his  Creator's  care,  or  who  does  not  see,  in  the  vast  and 
wonderful  apparatus  around  us,  provision  for  other  races 
of  animated  beings.  The  planets,  as  we  have  seen,  de- 
rive their  light  from  the  sun  ;  but  that  cannot  be  the  case 
with  the  stars.  These,  doubtless,  then,  are  themselves 
suns,  and  may,  perhaps,  each  in  its  sphere,  be  the  pre- 
siding centre,  round  which  other  planets,  or  bodies  of 
which  we  can  form  no  conception,  from  any  analogy  of- 
fered by  our  own  system,  may  be  circulating."* 


FIFTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

X.    THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. IMMENSITY  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

ON  casting  the  eye  across  the  heavens,  it  is  arrested 
by  a  streak  of  faint  light,  which  passes  athwart  the  whole 
sky,  in  the  direction,  speaking  loosely,  of  east  and  west. 
This  streak  is  called  the  milky  way,  in  allusion  to  a  well- 
known  childish  fancy  of  heathen  mythology.  When  we 
regard  the  stars,  with  reference  to  this  permanent  band, 
we  find  that,  in  proportion  as  they  recede  from  it  on 
either  side,  they  gradually  become  less  and  less  numer- 
ous, till,  towards  the  extreme  north  and  south,  there  is 
an  obvious  deficiency  in  the  comparative  richness  of  the 
garniture  with  which  the  mighty  dome  is  adorned.  On 
applying  the  telescope  to  the  diffused  light  of  this  Remark- 
able part  of  the  heavens,  the  astronomer  is  lost  in  admi- 
ration, to  find,  that  this  appearance  is  occasioned  by  an 
amazing  multitude  of  stars,  too  minute  to  be  detected  by 
the  naked  eye,  and  too  numerous  to  be  accurately  calcu- 

*  Herschel's  Astronomy,  p.  380. 


124  THE   STARRY   HEAVENS. 

lated,  "scattered  by  millions,  like  glittering  dust,  on  the 
black  ground  of  the  general  heavens."  Sir  William 
Herschel  informs  us,  that,  on  calculating  a  portion  of  the 
milky  way,  about  ten  degrees  long,  and  two  and  a  half 
broad,  he  found  it  to  contain  258,000  stars, — a  quantity 
so  great,  in  so  small  a  space,  that  the  moon  would  eclipse 
2000  of  them  at  once  !  Now,  all  these  are  suns,  proba- 
bly at  as  great  a  distance  from  each  other,  as  our  sun  is 
from  Sirius, — a  distance  so  incomprehensible,  when 
stated  in  miles,  that  the  best  way  of  forming  some  clear 
idea  of  it,  is,  to  compare  it  with  the  velocity  of  some 
moving  body  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  We  know 
of  nothing  so  swift  as  light,  which  moves  at  the  rate  of 
12,000,000  miles  in  a  minute;  and  yet, light  would  be 
at  least  three  years  in  passing  between  the  sun  and  Sirius. 
Let  any  one,  then,  comprehend,  if  he  is  able,  the  distan- 
ces implied  in  the  conception,  that  the  minute  and  thick- 
ly studded  sparks  of  the  milky  way,  are  suns,  each  so 
far  separated  from  each  other,  that  it  would  require  three 
years  for  the  light  of  the  one  to  reach  the  other  !  And 
yet  this  astonishing  view  is  not  a  mere  gratuitous  imagi- 
nation, but  a  calm  philosophical  deduction  from  observed 
facts  and  obvious  analogies. 

But  this  stretch  of  the  mental  powers  is  little,  com- 
pared with  what  is  required  for  comprehending  the  con- 
clusions we  are  led  to  form,  from  other  celestial  pheno- 
mena. In  various  parts  of  the  heavens,  and  in  all  quar- 
ters, there  are  discovered  either  small  groups  of  stars,  or 
certain  dusky  spots,  called  nebulae,  which  the  power  of 
the  telescope  has  multiplied  to  thousands  of  greater  or 
less  distinctness  and  magnitude.*  Now,  these  nebulae, 
when  subjected  to  a  very  strong  magnifying  power,  gen- 
erally resolve  themselves  into  vast  assemblages  of  minute 
stars,  "  crowded  together,"  as  Sir  John  Herschel  ex- 
presses rt,  "  so  as  to  occupy  almost  a  definite  outline, 

*  "  In  the  northern  hemisphere,  after  making  all  allowances,  those 
whose  places  are  fixed,  cannot  be  fewer  than  between  one  and  two 
thousand  ;  and  you  will  have  a  good  idea  how  plentifully  they  are  dis- 
tributed, by  remarking, that  this  is  at  least  equal  to  the  whole  number 
of  stars  which  the  naked  eye  perceives  on  any  ordinary  night." — Nicholas 
Architecture  of  the  Heavens,  p.  47. 


IMMENSITY   OF  THE   UNIVERSE.  125 

and  to  run  up  to  a  blaze  of  light  in  the  centre,  where 
their  condensation  is  usually  the  greatest."  "  Many  of 
them,"  adds  this  astronomer,  "are  of  an  exactly  round 
figure,  and  convey  the  complete  idea  of  a  globular  space, 
filled  full  of  stars,  insulated  in  the  heavens,  and  constitut- 
ing, in  itself,  a  family  or  society  apart  from  the  rest,  and 
subject  only  to  its  own  internal  laws.  It  would  be  a 
vain  task  to  count  the  stars  in  one  of  these  globular  clus- 
ters. They  are  not  to  be  reckoned  by  hundreds  ;  and, 
on  a  rough  calculation,  grounded  on  the  apparent  intervals 
between  them  at  the  borders,  (where  they  are  seen  not 
projected  on  each  other,)  and  the  angular  diameter  of 
the  whole  group,  it  would  appear  that  many  clusters  of 
this  description  must  contain  at  least  10,000  or  20,000 
stars,  compacted  and  wedged  together  in  a  round  space, 
whose  angular  diameter  does  not  exceed  eight  or  ten 
minutes  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  an  area  not  more  than  a  tenth 
part  of  that  covered  by  the  moon." 

Are  these  numerous  spangles,  suns  like  our  own,  sep- 
arated from  each  other  by  distances  similar  to  those  by 
which  our  solar  star  is  separated  from  the  other  stars  of 
the  group  to  which  he  belongs  ?  And  are  we,  then,  to 
believe  that  the  system  of  stars  to  which  our  sun  belongs, 
is  nothing  else  than  a  nebula  ?  Immense  as  are  the  bod- 
ies which  that  system  embraces,  and  extensive,  beyond 
all  human  conception,  as  is  the  space  which  it  occupies, 
must  we  conclude,  that,  if  viewed  from  the  distance  of 
the  other  nebulae  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  it 
would  appear  but  as  a  little  cloud,  no  bigger  than  a  man's 
hand  ?  Such  is,  in  truth,  the  astonishing  conclusion  to 
which  the  study  of  celestial  appearances  seems  almost 
inevitably  to  conduct  us. 

Now,  if  we  are  permitted,  on  such  a  subject,  to  argue 
from  analogy,  we  may  fancy  to  ourselves  some  such  idea 
as  this, — that  each  nebula,  or  group  of  stars,  bears  the 
same  reference  to  other  groups,  which  our  planetary 
system  does  to  the  globes  of  which  it  is  composed  ;  and 
that,  while  they  may  be  impressed  with  a  rotatory  mo- 
tion round  each  other,  like  our  satellites  round  their 
primaries,  there  is  some  central  point  of  unknown  posi- 
11* 


126  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

tion,  and  immeasurable  dimensions,  round  which  the 
whole  groups  of  the  universe  revolve,  like  our  little 
worlds  round  their  sun.  There  are  not  wanting  reasons 
for  such  a  supposition,  extravagant  as  it  may  appear.  The 
two  great  laws  of  gravitation  and  inertia,  by  which  our 
own  system  is  regulated  and  maintained,  have  been  proved 
to  exist  with  precisely  the  same  powers,  at  least  in  some 
of  the  fixed  stars.  The  probability,  therefore,  is,  that 
these  are  universal  qualities  inherent  in  all  material  ob- 
jects. This,  being  granted,  seems  to  imply  the  neces- 
sity of  a  balanced  rotatory  motion  in  every  system  of 
worlds,  for  preserving  the  general  equilibrium  of  the 
whole  ;  because  universal  attraction  must  prevent  any 
body  from  remaining  absolutely  stationary.  Now,  the 
same  principle  appears  to  apply  to  groups  of  systems 
which  applies  to  systems  themselves.  Hence,  we  may 
infer  a  complication  of  movements  of  the  most  wonderful 
and  extensive  kind,  combining  not  merely  worlds  with 
worlds,  and  systems  with  systems,  but  nebulae  with  ne- 
bulae, embracing  the  whole  material  creation,  and  extend- 
ing to  infinity.  What  a  magnificent  view  does  this  afford 
of  the  works  of  the  Eternal ;  and  what  a  beautiful  unity 
does  it  give  to  His  operations  !  Could  we  but  stretch 
our  faculties  to  the  conception,  we  might  figure  to  our- 
selves the  Almighty  present,  in  some  peculiar  sense,  in 
the  centre  of  His  works,  and  thence  surveying  the  infinite 
machine  which  His  hand  has  formed — groups  upon  groups, 
each  containing  tens  of  thousands  of  worlds,  moving  in 
constant  succession  before  Him,  without  confusion,  and 
without  interference, — rolling  in  an  ethereal  fluid,  which 
bears  light  and  heat  in  the  waves  of  its  never-failing  tide, 
and  which  communicates  life,  and  intelligence,  and  joy, 
to  organized  existences  over  the  whole, — reflecting, 
wherever  they  move,  the  perfections  of  an  Eternal 
Mind,  and  experiencing,  throughout  all  their  members, 
and  in  all  their  revolutions,  the  blessings  of  a  Father's 
smile. 


NEBULAE.  127 


FIFTH  WEEK—FRIDAY. 

XI.    THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. NEBULA. 

SIR  WILLIAM  HERSCHEL,  by  the  use  of  his  powerful 
telescopes,  has  made  other  most  interesting  discoveries 
in  the  starry  heavens,  some  of  which  it  will  be  the  ob- 
ject of  this  paper  briefly  to  detail,  as  throwing  light  on 
the  condition  of  the  universe,  and  demonstrating  that 
the  same  mighty  hand,  which  "  wheels  the  rolling  spheres" 
in  our  own  system,  is  equally  employing  its  amazing 
powers  in  the  most  distant  regions,  and  regulating  the 
material  world  every  where,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to 
discern,  by  the  same  laws,  under  some  remarkable  varie- 
ties of  application. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  wonderful  discovery  of 
the  apparently  general  arrangement,  whereby  the  innu- 
merable suns,  of  which  the  universe  is  composed,  are 
thrown  into  groups,  each  containing  vast  numbers  of 
these  splendid  bodies,  and  comprehending  systems  of 
their  own.  Of  these  nebulae,  as  they  are  called,  our  own 
seems  to  be  of  a  singular  figure,  forming  a  stratum  of 
which  the  thickness  is  small  in  comparison  with  its  length 
and  breadth,  and  which  is  divided  into  two  branches, 
inclined  at  a  small  angle  to  each  other,  near  the  point  in 
which  our  sun,  with  its  planetary  system,  is  situated. 
This  figure  seems,  at  least,  to  account  for  the  appearan- 
ces of  the  heavens,  with  their  milky  way,  studded  with 
innumerable  stars,  which  branch  off,  in  one  place,  in  a 
remarkable  manner,  from  the  main  body,  and  which,  as 
we  have  observed,  decrease  rapidly  in  numbers,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  distance  from  that  singular  belt.  The 
other  nebulae  are  of  various  forms,  and  even  seem  to 
differ  from  each  other  in  their  nature.  Sir  William 
Herschel  divides  them  into  six  classes,  of  which  the  two 
first  appear  to  be  distinguished  merely  by  their  relative 


128  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

distance  from  us,  but  the  rest  to  be  in  a  state  altogether 
different  from  any  thing  of  which  we  have  experience. 
These  latter,  he  describes  under  the  four  heads  of  nebu- 
lae in  which  there  is  no  appearance  whatever  of  stars, 
planetary  nebulae,  stellar  nebulae,  and  nebulous  stars.  Of 
these  the  variety  is  very  great,  some  being  formed  of  little 
flaky  masses,  like  "  wisps  of  cloud,"  adhering  to  small 
stars  ;  others  being  of  a  round  or  oval  form,  increasing 
more  or  less  in  density  and  brightness  toward  the  central 
point ;  others  offering  u  the  singularly  beautiful  and  striking 
phenomenon,  of  a  sharp  and  brilliant  star,  surrounded  by  a 
perfectly  circular  disk  or  atmosphere  ;"  others,  again, 
of  more  rare  occurrence,  are  annular,  exhibiting,  in  the 
central  opening,  a  faint  hazy  light ;  and,  last  of  all,  come 
nebulae,  which  have  "exactly  the  appearance  of  planets, 
— round,  or  slightly  oval  disks,  in  some  instances  quite 
sharply  terminated,  in  others  a  little  hazy  at  the  borders, 
and  of  a  light  exactly  equable,  or  only  a  very  little  mot- 
tled, which,  in  some  of  them,  approaches  in  vividness  to 
that  of  actual  planets."  These  last  are  bodies  of  enor- 
mous magnitude, — so  large,  indeed,  that  they  would 
include  the  whole  of  our  planetary  system  within  their 
diameter,  forming  masses  of  solid  matter,  if  they  are 
solid,  such  as  the  greatest  stretch  of  imagination  cannot 
grasp. 

"  The  nebulae,"  says  the  younger  Herschel,  "furnish, 
in  every  point  of  view,  an  inexhaustible  field  of  specu- 
lation and  conjecture.  That  by  far  the  larger  share  of 
them  consists  of  stars,  there  can  be  little  doubt ;  and  in 
the  interminable  range  of  system  upon  system,  and  fir- 
mament upon  firmament,  which  we  thus  catch  a  glimpse 
of,  the  imagination  is  bewildered  and  lost.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  it  be  true,  as,  to  say  the  least,  seems  extremely- 
probable,  that  a  phosphorescent,  or  self-luminous  matter 
also  exists,  disseminated  through  extensive  regions  of 
space,  in  the  manner  of  a  cloud  or  fog, — now  assuming 
capricious  shapes,  like  actual  clouds,  drifted  by  the  wind, 
and  now  concentrating  itself,  like  a  cometic  atmosphere, 
around  particular  stars  ; — what,  we  naturally  ask,  is  the 
nature  and  destination  of  this  nebulous  matter?  Is  it 


NEBULAE.  129 

absorbed  by  the  stars,  in  whose  neighborhood  it  is  found, 
to  furnish,  by  its  condensation,  their  supply  of  light  and 
heat  ?  Or  is  it  progressively  concentrating  itself,  by 
the  effort  of  its  own  gravity,  into  masses,  and  so  laying 
the  foundation  of  new  sidereal  systems,  or  of  insulated 
stars  ?"* 

The  author  sagely  remarks,  that  it  is  easier  to  pro- 
pound such  questions,  than  to  offer  any  probable  reply 
to  them  ;  and  it  would  be  well  if  other  astronomers  were 
to  imitate  the  modesty  and  philosophical  forbearance  of 
this  eminent  man.  But  there  are,  unfortunately,  philos- 
ophers, who  feel  pleasure  in  every  conjecture  by  which 
an  intelligent  First  Cause  may  be  excluded  from  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  the  obscure  and  doubtful  phenomena  afforded 
by  these  nebulous  appearances,  have  furnished  one  of 
the  most  profound  mathematicians  of  his  classf  with  a 
theory,  by  which  he  attempts  to  show,  that  the  whole 
construction  of  Nature  depends  on  mere  unintelligent 
mechanical  powers.  He  supposes,  for  example,  that  our 
own  sun,  with  his  planetary  system,  was  originally  noth- 
ing else  than  a  part  of  a  universally  diffused  phospho- 
rescent vapor,  which,  condensing  into  a  nucleus,  gave 
rise  to  a  revolving  sun,  of  excessive  heat ;  that  as  the 
heat  diminished,  the  solar  atmosphere  contracted,  leaving 
portions  of  itself  detached  by  the  centrifugal  motion, 
which  became  gradually  condensed  into  solid  planets  and 
satellites  ;  and  these  he,  with  much  ingenuity,  attempts 
to  show,  from  mechanical  considerations,  would  assume 
the  form  and  motions  which  we  find  actually  impressed 
on  them.  Mr.  Whewell  mentions  this  u  nebular  hypoth- 
esis," as  he  calls  it,  and  triumphantly  shows,  that  even 
granting  it  could  account  for  the  phenomena,  it  could 
not  be  held,  in  the  most  remote  degree,  to  prove  the  suf- 
ficiency of  mechanical  causes  without  intelligence  and 
design.  On  this  highly  satisfactory  reasoning,  I  cannot 
enter,  but  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  work  itself;  and 
I  am  quite  sure,that  no  candid  mind  can  resist  the  con- 
clusion to  which  he  comes,  that,  whatever  may  be  the 

*  HerschePs  Astronomy.  t  Laplace. 


130  THE    STARRY  HEAVENS. 

scientific  merits  of  this  hypothesis,  they  cannot,  in  sound 
reason,  affect  at  all  the  view  of  the  universe  as  the  work 
of  a  wise  and  great  Creator.  "Let  it  be  supposed,"  ob- 
serves he  in  conclusion,  "that  the  point  to  which  this 
hypothesis  leads  us,  is  the  ultimate  point  of  physical  sci- 
ence ;  that  the  furthest  glimpse  we  can  obtain  of  the 
material  universe  by  our  natural  faculties,  shows  it  to  be 
occupied  by  a  boundless  abyss  of  luminous  matter  ;  still, 
we  ask,  how  space  came  to  be  thus  occupied, — how 
matter  came  to  be  thus  luminous  ?  If  we  establish,  by 
physical  proofs,  that  the  first  fact  which  can  be  traced 
in  the  history  of  the  world  is,  that  'there  was  light,'  we 
shall  still  be  led,  even  by  our  natural  reason,  to  suppose 
that,  before  this  could  occur,  '  God  said,  Let  there  be 
light.'" 

Dr.  Nichol,  who  adopts  the  hypothesis  of  Laplace,  as 
to  the  gradual  conversion  of  nebulae  into  stellar  and  plan- 
etary systems,  and  illustrates  it  in  a  very  striking  manner, 
deduces  from  it  the  following  pleasing  and  sublime  views  : 
— "The  ideas  I  have  presented  to  you — august  and 
strange  though  they  are — should  not  appear  in  contradis- 
tinction to  what  every  moment  is  passing  around  us. 
Supposing  these  phenomena  did  unfold  the  long  growth 
of  worlds,  where  is  the  intrinsic  difference  between  that 
growth  and  the  progress  of  the  humblest  leaf,  from  its 
seed,  to  its  intricate  and  most  beautiful  organization  ? 
The  thought  that  one  grand  and  single  law  of  attraction, 
operating  upon  diffused  matter,  may  have  produced  all 
those  stars  which  gild  the  heavens,  and,  in  fact,  that  the 
spangling  material  universe  is,  as  we  see  it,  nothing  other 
than  one  phase  of  a  mighty  progress,  is  indeed  truly  sur- 
prising ;  but  I  appeal  to  you  again,  in  what  essential  it 
were  different  from  the  growth  of  the  evanescent  plant  ? 
There,  too,  rude  matter  puts  on  new  forms,  in  outward 
shape  most  beauteous,  and  in  mechanism  most  admirable  : 
and  there  cannot  be  a  more  astonishing  process,  or  a 
mightier  power,  even  in  the  growth  of  a  world  !  The 
thing  which  bewilders  us,  is  not  any  intrinsic  difficulty  or 
disparity,  but  a  consideration  springing  from  our  own 
fleeting  condition.  We  are  not  rendered  incredulous 


BINARY    STARS.  131 

by  the  nature,  but  overwhelmed  by  the  magnitude,  of 
the  works  ;  our  minds  will  not  stretch  out  to  embrace 
the  periods  of  this  stupendous  change.  But  time,  as  we 
conceive  it,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  ;  we  are 
speaking  of  the  operations,  and  tracing  the  footsteps,  of 
One  who  is  above  all  time  ;  we  are  speaking  of  the  en- 
ergies of  that  Almighty  Mind,  with  regard  to  whose  infi- 
nite capacity, a  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  the  life- 
time of  the  entire  human  race  but  as  the  moment  which 
dies  with  the  tick  of  the  clock  which  marks  it — which  is 
heard  and  passes."* 


FIFTH   WEEK— SATURDAY. 


XII.    THE  STARRY  HEAVENS. BINARY  STARS. 

THERE  is  yet  another  singular  phenomenon  in  the 
starry  heavens,  which  shall  form  the  subject  of  this  day's 
paper, — I  allude  to  the  curious  fact  of  the  existence  of 
binary  revolving  stars.  These  are  very  numerous.  Sir 
William  Herschel  has  enumerated  upwards  of  500,  and 
Professor  Strave,  of  Dorpat,  has  recently  added  to  this 
number  between  2000  and  3000.  When  these  combina- 
tions were  first  observed,  it  was  thought  probable,  that 
their  extreme  apparent  proximity  would  enable  astrono- 
mers to  ascertain  their  distance  from  the  earth,  by  the 
discovery  of  an  annual  parallax  ;  for  supposing,  as  might 
naturally  be  expected,  that  one  of  the  combined  stars 
should  be  nearer  the  earth  than  the  other,  and  that  both 
should  prove  to  be  stationary  in  relation  to  each  other, 
the  motion  of  the  earth  in  her  orbit  would  cause  these 
stars  to  alter  their  apparent  position  ;  and,  if  that  should 
be  the  case,  even  in  the  slightest  appreciable  degree,  this 
circumstance  would  furnish  data,  on  which  calculations 

*  Architecture  of  the  Heavens,  pp.  143,  144. 


132  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

of  the  greatest  importance  might  be  founded.*  This 
consideration  induced  Sir  William  Herschel  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  double  stars,  and  to  subject  them  to 
careful  and  minute  measurements  ;  but  he  had  scarcely 
begun  his  task,  when  he  was  arrested  by  phenomena  of 
a  very  unexpected  character.  Instead  of  the  effect  which 
might  be  produced  by  the  earth's  annual  motion,  he  ob- 
served, in  many  instances,  a  regular  progressive  change, 
"  in  some  cases  bearing  chiefly  on  their  distance;  in 
others,  on  their  position,  and  advancing  steadily  in  one 
direction,  so  as  clearly  to  indicate  either  a  real  motion 
of  the  stars  themselves,  or  a  general  rectilinear  motion 
of  the  sun  and  the  whole  solar  system,  producing  a  par- 
allax of  a  higher  order  than  would  result  from  the  earth's 
orbitual  motion,  and  which  might  be  called  systematic 
parallax." 

*  We  may  perhaps  despair  of  fixing  the  distance  of  any  but  the  very 
nearest  of  the  fixed  stars,  by  means  of  noting  their  parallax,  i.  e.  the 
variation  which  takes  place  in  their  relative  position  in  different  parts 
of  the  earth's  orbit  ;  but  there  is  another  and  highly  ingenious  method 
of  determining  the  distances  of  the  binary  stars,  which  has  been  pointed 
out  by  M.  Arago.  This  method  depends  on  the  progressive  motion 
of  light.  If  the  orbit  of  a  revolving  star  presents  nearly  its  edge  to  the 
observer's  eye,  it  is  evident  that  during  one  half  of  its  revolution  it  is 
constantly  receding  from  the  observer,  and,  during  the  other  half,  con- 
stantly approaching  him.  Supposing  the  light  of  that  star  to  take  thirty 
days  in  travelling  to  the  earth  from  the  nearest  point  of  its  orbit,  it  will 
require  more  than  thirty  days  to  reach  the  earth  from  the  farthest  point. 
Hence  it  will  appear  to  spend  more  time  in  one  part  of  its  orbit  than  in 
the  other  ;  and  the  difference  between  the  calculated  and  the  apparent 
time  of  its  transit  through  the  nearest  and  farthest  halves  of  its  orbit, 
though  it  should  be  but  a  few  seconds,  will  supply  the  astronomer  with 
the  data  he  requires.  The  two  observed  semi-revolutions  differ  from 
each  other  by  the  double  of  the  time  which  the  light  takes  to  pass  across 
the  star's  orbit.  Hence  half  the  difference  of  time  expressed  in  seconds, 
and  multiplied  by  200,000,  the  number  of  miles  which  light  traverses 
in  a  second,  will  give  the  diameter  of  the  orbit.  This  element  known, 
the  distance  from  the  earth  is  easily  found.  What  a  new  accession  to 
our  knowledge  will  be  acquired,  when,  by  a  long  and  careful  observ- 
ance of  these  double  stars,  this  discovery  is  made !  "  The  day  in  which 
the  distance  of  a  double  star  is  determined,"  says  M.  Arago,  "will  be 
the  day  in  which  it  may  be  weighed,  in  which  we  shall  know  how  many 
millions  of  times  it  contains  more  matter  than  our  globe.  We  shall  thus 
penetrate  into  its  internal  constitution,  though  it  may  be  removed  from 
us  more  than  120,000,000,000,000  of  leagues." 


BINARY   STARS.  133 

After  a  patient  investigation  of  twenty-five  years,  the 
elder  Herschel  ascertained,  what  has  been  further  estab- 
lished by  subsequent  observations,  "  that  there  exist  si- 
dereal systems,  composed  of  two  stars,  revolving  about 
each  other  in  regular  orbits."*  Between  fifty  and  sixty 
instances  of  changes  in  the  position  of  double  stars,  were 
adduced  by  this  astronomer,  in  communications  publish- 
ed in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society,  for  1803 
and  1804.  The  revolutions  of  these  combinations  of 
stars  round  each  other,  are  of  extremely  different  peri- 
ods, one  in  the  Crown  being  completed  in  little  more 
than  forty  years,  while  that  which  is  found  in  the  Lion, 
extends  to  a  cycle  of  no  less  than  1200  years.  Many 
of  the  double  stars  exhibit  the  curious  and  beautiful  phe- 
nomenon of  contrasted  or  complimentary  colors.  In 
such  instances,  the  larger  star  is  usually  of  a  ruddy  or 
orange  hue,  while  the  smaller  one  appears  blue  or  green. 
The  complimentary  color  of  the  smaller  star  may,  in 
some  instances,  be  considered  as  an  optical  illusion  ;  but 
the  contrast  cannot  be  thus  accounted  for  in  others.  The 
double  star  in  Cassiopeia,  for  instance,  exhibits  the  beau- 
tiful combination  of  a  large  white  star,  and  a  small  one 
of  a  rich,  ruddy  purple.  Sir  John  Herschel,  in  mentioning 
these  combinations,  indulges  his  fancy  in  the  following 
somewhat  amusing  remarks  : — u  It  may  be  easier  suggest- 
ed in  words,  than  conceived  in  imagination,  what  variety 
of  illumination  two  suns, — a  red  and  a  green,  or  a  yellow 
and  a  blue  one, — must  afford  a  planet  circulating  about 
either  ;  and  what  charming  contrasts  and  'grateful  vicis- 
situdes,'— a  red  and  a  green  day,  for  instance,  alternating 
with  a  white  one,  and  with  darkness, — might  arise  from 
the  presence  or  absence  of  one  or  other,  or  both,  above 
the  horizon. "f 

Without  entering  into  this  speculation,  which,  of  course, 
is  taken  from  the  views  and  tastes  of  human  beings,  and 
may  or  may  not  bear  reference  to  the  feelings  of  the  ani- 
mated creation  in  these  distant  worlds,  I  cannot  dismiss 

*  In  some  instances  the  combination  consists  of  three  stars,  in  others 
of  four,  and  even  of  more,  with  very  complex  motions, 
t  Herschel's  Astronomy,  p.  395. 

i.  12  vn. 


134  THE   STARRY  HEAVENS. 

this  curious  subject  without  a  single  remark  on  the  beau- 
tiful variety  which  appears  in  the  works  of  the  Creator, 
combined  with  a  sameness  which  gives  evidence  of  the 
architecture  of  One  Creating  Hand.  The  revolving  mo- 
tions of  these  binary  stars  have  been  found  to  be  govern- 
ed by  the  same  centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces  as  reg- 
ulate and  preserve  the  order  and  harmony  of  our  own 
planetary  system.  M.  Savary,  Professor  Encke,  and  the 
younger  Herschel,  having  each  applied  the  Newtonian 
law  of  gravitation  to  the  calculation  of  the  elliptic  orbits 
of  binary  stars,  have  thus  elicited  their  periods,  and  the 
forms  of  their  ellipses  :  and  the  correspondence  between 
their  calculated  and  observed  places,  has  satisfactorily 
proved  the  existence  of  the  law  in  these  remote  regions 
of  the  universe.  Here,  then,  a  new  element  is  added  to 
our  knowledge  of  creation.  The  identity  of  the  light 
emitted  by  the  fixed  stars,  and  by  our  own  sun,  had  been 
previously  ascertained,  as  well  as  various  other  particu- 
lars which  seemed  to  mark  these  distant  luminaries  as  be- 
longing to  the  same  universal  system  ;  but  although,  uni- 
ted with  these  considerations,  the  phenomena  of  comets 
seemed  to  intimate  some  connexion  between  the  great 
laws  which  govern  our  own  planetary  worlds,  and  those 
of  other  suns,  and  although  analogy  certainly  rendered 
the  extension  of  these  laws  to  all  things  created  more 
than  probable,  it  was  not  till  the  revolution  of  these  bina- 
ry stars  was  observed,  and  subjected  to  calculation,  that 
the  fact  was  demonstrated. 

It  is  most  curious  and  instructive  to  trace  the  same 
character  in  the  operations  of  the  Eternal,  throughout 
every  corner  of  His  universe,  which  science  unfolds  to 
our  view.  It  is  true,  that  even  now,  after  all  the  insight 
which  astronomy  has  afforded  of  more  distant  worlds,  it 
is  but  a  faint  glimpse  that  we  obtain  ;  but  still  that  glimpse, 
while  it  opens  to  us  a  profusion  of  wonders,  establishes 
principles  which  connect  system  with  system,  and  group 
with  group  ;  and  the  gradation  and  variety  which  it  dis- 
plays, correspond  so  remarkably  with  what  we  perceive 
around  us,  both  on  the  large  and  the  minute  scale,  that 
we  seem  warranted  in  feeling  confidence  in  our  reason- 


TELESCOPE  AND  MICROSCOPE   COMPARED.        135 

ings  founded  on  these  analogies,  and  while  we  trace  every 
where  the  exercise  of  the  same  power  and  wisdom,  may 
legitimately  infer  also,  every  where,  the  exercise  of  the 
same  moral  qualities. 


SIXTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

DISCOVERIES     OF    THE    TELESCOPE    AND    MICROSCOPE     COM- 
PARED. 

THE  inconceivable  space,  and  innumerable  quantities, 
with  which  we  become  conversant  in  contemplating  the 
phenomena  of  the  heavens,  while  they  stretch  the  human 
mind,  till  it  is  lost  in  infinity,  are  calculated  to  produce  a 
peculiar  effect  on  our  religious  views  and  feelings.  They 
elevate  our  conceptions  of  the  Creator,  and  fill  us  with 
the  utmost  astonishment  and  awe.  But  there  is  some- 
thing so  incomprehensible  in  the  attributes  of  that  Self- 
existent  Being,  by  whose  power  these  wonders  were 
created,  and  by  whose  wisdom  they  are  governed,  as  to 
overpower  and  confound  the  mind.  In  the  presence  of 
such  a  God,  we  appear  to  become  as  nothing ;  and,  were 
we  only  to  dwell  on  the  immensities  of  Nature,  it  seems 
as  if  we  should  scarcely  be  in  a  fit  state  for  receiving  the 
truths  of  Revealed  Religion,  or  for  cherishing  those  pi- 
ous and  filial  affections,  which  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel are  so  admirably  adapted  to  excite.  After  wander- 
ing through  the  boundless  realms  of  space,  and  observing 
worlds  on  worlds,  and  systems  on  systems,  and  even 
groups  of  systems  on  groups,  in  interminable  succession, 
all  glorious  with  the  perfections  of  the  Eternal,  it  is  not 
easy  to  conceive,  that  the  dreadful  and  stupendous  Pow- 
er, who  created  and  sustains  this  infinite  universe,  should 
condescend  to  care  for  such  worms  of  earth  as  we  are, — 
much  less  that  He  should  extend  to  us  the  tender  affec- 
tions of  a  Father.  To  think  of  such  a  Being  as  pro- 


136  DISCOVERIES   OF  THE 

viding  food  for  the  ravens,  and  sustaining  the  sparrow  in 
its  flight,  or  even  looking  regardfully  on  man,  and  num- 
bering the  hairs  of  the  hoary  head,  or  counting  the  beat- 
ings of  the  infant's  heart,  seems  to  the  mind  thus  exclu- 
sively prepossessed,  as  little  better  than  a  fond  and  idle 
dream.  A  general  Providence,  such  a  mind  will  readily 
admit ;  but,  that  the  Creator  and  Sustainer  of  the  uni- 
verse should  occupy  Himself  with  the  little  affairs  of 
such  an  insignificant  and  worthless  creature  as  man,  is  a 
doctrine,  to  say  the  least,  by  no  means  so  congenial  to 
the  habits  of  thinking  which  astronomy  induces. 

It  is  not,  however,  only  in  the  large  and  magnificent 
scale  of  operations,  to  which  the  view  of  the  starry  heav- 
ens introduces  us,  that  the  perfections  of  the  Creator  are 
visible.  We  have  seen,  that  the  hand  of  the  Almighty 
may  be  equally  perceived  to  be  at  work  in  little  things  as 
in  great.  u  The  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  are  His." — 
He  not  only  created  them,  and  endowed  them  with  most 
wonderful  instincts  for  self-preservation,  and  faculties  for 
enjoyment ;  but  adapts  these  instincts  and  faculties  to  the 
revolution  of  the  seasons,  and  the  revolution  of  the  sea- 
sons to  them.  The  deeper  we  examine  this  subject,  the 
more  powerfully  are  we  struck  with  proofs  of  the  minute 
and  tender  care  of  a  Parent  in  making  provision  for  the 
wants  of  His  offspring.  Descending  from  the  larger  to 
the  smaller  animals,  we  find  no  point  in  the  scale  where 
this  parental  character  stops,  or  is  even  diminished.  The 
same  wise  and  most  wonderful  provision  is  made  for  the 
worm  and  the  mite,  as  for  the  lion  and  the  elephant, — 
their  bodies  are  equally  formed  with  consummate  art,  and 
equally  contrived  with  amazing  care,  for  the  circumstances 
in  which  they  are  placed,  and  the  means  of  subsistence 
and  happiness  within  their  reach. 

Nor  is  this  all :  Science  applies  its  skill  to  aid  Nature 
in  investigating  the  little  as  well  as  the  great.  If,  by 
means  of  a  telescope,  the  astronomer  has  been  enabled  to 
lay  open  a  thousand  wonders  of  the  starry  heavens,  hid 
from  our  unaided  sight,  and  taught  us  to  believe,  that,  after 
all,  we  are  only  on  the  threshold  of  discovery  in  this  de- 
partment ;  that  we  still  see,  "  as  through  a  glass  darkly  ;" 


TELESCOPE  AND  MICROSCOPE   COMPARED.        137 

and  that  it  is  but  a  faint  and  feeble  glimpse  of  creation 
which  our  most  approved  instruments  can  exhibit ; — the 
microscope  has  directed  our  attention  to  wonders  no  less 
worthy  of  admiration  on  our  own  earth,  and  within  our 
own  limited  locality,  and  has  informed  us  that  there  is  a 
species  of  infinitude  in  the  minuteness  of  organized  exist- 
ences, as  well  as  in  the  magnitude  of  those  which  are  un- 
organized ;  that,  in  the  former,  as  well  as  in  the  latter, — 
in  the  myriads  of  inhabitants  in  a  drop  of  water,  or  in  the 
leaf  of  a  plant,  or  in  a  grain  of  sand, — the  perfections  of 
the  Creator  are  no  less  certainly  to  be  seen,  than  in  those 
mighty  suns  which,  at  His  command,  shed  light,  and  life, 
and  joy,  over  their  attendant  worlds,  and  fill  boundless 
space  with  His  glory. 

It  is  here  that  the  Christian  finds  an  antidote  against 
those  doubts  which  a  contemplation  of  infinite  magnitude 
might  otherwise  excite  in  his  mind.  If  it  be  natural  for 
him  to  ask,  with  some  feeling  of  unbelief,  "  Can  the  Crea- 
tor of  innumerable  worlds  look  down  with  pity  on  the 
sinful  race  of  Adam  ?  can  He  be  conceived  to  deal  with 
this  race  in  the  way  which  Scripture  unfolds  ?  is  it  possi- 
ble that  He,  the  Eternal  God,  should,  in  very  truth,  send 
His  only-begotten  Son  to  this  little  planet,  to  dwell  with 
men, — taking  upon  Himself  their  nature  ;  subjecting  Him- 
self to  their  infirmities  ;  nay,  for  their  sakes,  suffering 
sorrow,  torture,  and  death  ?" — If,  I  say,  it  be  natural  for 
the  mind,  expanded  by  the  philosophy  of  the  heavens,  to 
put  these  skeptical  questions,  it  can  scarcely  fail  to  be 
brought  back  to  a  sounder  state,  when  it  takes  in  a  more 
comprehensive  view  of  the  Divine  character,  and  humbly 
contemplates  the  very  same  Hand  which  moves  the  uni- 
verse, preserving  the  existence,  and  presiding  over  the 
enjoyment,  of  the  microscopic  world. 

This  view  is  most  beautifully  and  convincingly  unfold- 
ed by  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  what  have  been  called  his  c  As- 
tronomical Sermons.'  By  a  comparison,  in  his  own 
characteristic  manner,  of  the  discoveries  of  the  micro- 
scope with  those  of  the  telescope,  he  shows  that  we  have 
as  much  reason,  from  the  works  of  creation,  to  conceive 
of  the  Creator,  as  infinitely  minute  in  His  providential 
12* 


138   TELESCOPE  AND  MICROSCOPE  COMPARED. 

care,  as  we  have  to  conceive  of  Him  as  infinitely  great 
and  powerful  ;  and  having  established  this  important  truth, 
he  leads  us  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  exhibi- 
tion made  of  the  Divine  Being  in  His  Revealed  Word,  is 
in  perfect  harmony  with  the  character  of  Himself,  which 
He  has  impressed  on  nature. 

"They,  therefore,"  says  this  admirable  writer,  "who 
think  that  God  will  not  put  forth  such  a  power,  and  such 
a  goodness,  and  such  a  condescension,  in  behalf  of  this 
world,  as  are  ascribed  to  Him  in  the  New  Testament, 
because  He  has  so  many  other  worlds  to  attend  to,  think 
of  Him  as  a  man.  They  confine  their  view  to  the  infor- 
mations of  the  telescope,  and  forget  altogether  the  infor- 
mations of  the  other  instrument.  They  only  find  room, 
in  their  minds,  for  His  one  attribute,  of  a  large  and  gen- 
eral superintendence,  and  keep  out  of  their  remembrance 
the  equally  impressive  proofs  we  have  for  His  other  attri- 
bute, of  a  minute  and  multiplied  attention  to  all  the  di- 
versity of  operations,  where  it  is  He  that  worketh  all  in 
all.  And  when  I  think,  that,  as  one  of  the  instruments 
of  philosophy  has  heightened  our  every  impression  of  the 
first  of  these  attributes,  so  another  instrument  has  no  less 
heightened  our  impression  of  the  second  of  them, — then 
I  can  no  longer  resist  the  conclusion,  that  it  would  be  a 
transgression  of  sound  argument,  as  well  as  a  daring  im- 
piety, to  draw  a  limit  around  the  doings  of  this  unsearcha- 
ble God  ;  and,  should  a  professed  revelation  from  Heav- 
en, tell  me  of  an  act  of  condescension,  in  behalf  of  some 
separate  world,  so  wonderful  that  angels  desired  to  look 
into  it,  and  the  Eternal  Son  had  to  move  from  His  seat 
of  glory  to  carry  it  into  accomplishment,  all  I  ask  is  the 
evidence  of  such  a  revelation  ;  for,  let  it  tell  me  as  much 
as  it  may  of  God  letting  Himself  down  for  the  benefit  of 
one  single  province  of  His  dominions,  this  is  no  more  than 
I  see  lying  scattered  in  numberless  examples  before  me, 
and  running  through  the  whole  line  of  my  recollections, 
and  meeting  me  in  every  walk  of  observation  to  which  I 
can  betake  myself;  and,  now  that  the  microscope  has 
unveiled  the  wonders  of  another  region,  I  see  strewed 
around  me,  with  a  profusion  which  baffles  my  every  at- 


INFUSORY  ANIMALCULES.  139 

tempt  to  comprehend  it,  the  evidence  that  there  is  no  one 
portion  of  the  universe  of  God  too  minute  for  His  notice, 
nor  too  humble  for  the  visitation  of  His  care." 


SIXTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

WONDERS    OF    THE    MICROSCOPE. INFUSORY    ANIMALCULES. 

HAVING  spoken  of  the  wonders  of  the  microscopic 
world,  as  a  proof  that  there  is  nothing  too  little  to  be  be- 
neath the  care  of  the  universal  Father,  it  seems  desirable 
to  follow  out  this  statement  by  an  induction  of  particu- 
lars ;  and  I  shall  devote  this  paper  to  that  department  of 
animated  nature  which,  on  account  of  its  extreme  mi- 
nuteness, escapes  the  human  vision,  unless  assisted  by 
the  resources  of  art. 

The  microscope  has  revealed  to  human  observation 
new  races,  and  indeed  new  systems,  of  organized  and 
living  beings,  whose  existence,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
invention  of  that  instrument,  could  have  scarcely  been 
suspected,  and  whose  functions  must  have  been  entirely 
unknown.  These  are  the  most  numerous  of  all  terres- 
trial creatures,  and  exhibit  properties  which  fill  the  mind 
with  a  kind  of  wonder,  different  from,  but  scarcely  infe- 
rior to,  that  which  is  excited  by  the  view  of  Nature  on 
the  largest  scale.  Although  they  are  so  extremely  mi- 
nute, that  a  single  drop  of  water  may  contain  hundreds 
of  them,  and  yet  appear  to  the  naked  eye  as  pellucid  as 
if  it  were  a  pure  and  simple  globule  of  newly  distilled 
dew,  they  are  discovered,  by  the  magnifying  power  of 
the  solar  microscope,  not  only  to  be  animated  beings, 
but  to  possess  members,  some  of  them  formed  in  the 
most  delicate  symmetry,  and  all  of  them  framed  with 
consummate  art.  Their  species  are  incalculably  numer- 
ous, each  adapted  to  the  element  which  it  occupies,  and 
the  peculiar  sphere  in  which  it  is  destined  to  move. 


140  WONDERS   OF  THE  MICROSCOPE. 

They  have  obviously  volitions,  feelings  and  preferences, 
like  the  superior  animals  ;  and,  like  them,  they  display 
symptoms  of  hatred  and  affection,  of  rapacity  and  con- 
tentment, of  enjoyment  and  suffering.  Here,  then,  is  a 
new  world  of  living  beings,  sufficiently  resembling  that 
in  which  we  are  ourselves  destined  to  exist,  to  prove 
that  it  is  the  work  of  the  very  same  Creator  ;  yet,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  so  different  in  many  respects,  besides 
its  extreme  minuteness,  as  to  show,  still  more  distinctly, 
the  inexhaustible  resources  of  the  Divine  Mind,  in  the 
endless  variety  of  created  existences.  The  most  minute 
of  these  animalcules  which  have  been  studied  and  delin- 
eated, are  the  infusory,  that  is,  those  which  are  found  in 
liquids  ;  and  to  these  we  shall  at  present  confine  our- 
selves. They  have  been  divided  into  two  classes,  those 
with  external  organs,  and  those  in  which  such  organs  are 
wanting.  Of  the  former,  seven  genera  have  been  enu- 
merated, and  254  species  ;  of  the  latter,  ten  genera, 
and  123  species.  These,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  form 
a  very  small  part  of  the  actual  existences,  many  of  which 
are  so  minute,  that  they  elude  the  action  of  the  most 
powerful  magnifiers, — as  may  be  safely  inferred  from 
the  fact,  that  new  species,  descending  in  minuteness, 
have  constantly  been  discovered,  in  proportion  as  the 
power  of  the  microscope  has  been  increased. 

The  wonderful  diversity  of  shape  in  these  animalcules, 
has  been  thus  described: — "  Let  one  suppose  himself 
transported  to  a  region,  where  the  appearance,  figure, 
and  motion,  of  every  animal  is  unknown,  and  he  will 
form  some  idea  of  the  variety  presented  by  a  drop  of  an 
infusion,  observed  by  means  of  the  microscope.  One 
animalcule  is  a  long  slender  line  ;  another  is  coiled  up 
like  an  eel  or  a  serpent ;  some  are  circular,  elliptical,  or 
globular  ;  another  a  triangle  or  a  cylinder  ;  some  resemble 
thin  flat  plates  ;  and  some  maybe  compared  to  a  number 
of  articulated  reeds  ;  one  is  like  a  funnel,  and  another 
like  a  bell ;  and  the  structure  of  many  cannot  be  com- 
pared to  any  object  familiar  to  our  senses.  Certain  ani- 
malcula,  such  as  the  Proteus  diffluens,  can  change  their 
figure  at  pleasure,  being  sometimes  extended  to  immod- 


INFUSORY  ANIMALCULES.  141 

erate  length,  and  then  contracted  to  a  point ;  one  mo- 
ment they  are  inflated  into  a  sphere,  the  next  completely 
flaccid,  and  then  various  eminences  will  project  from  the 
surface,  altering  them  apparently  into  animals  entirely 
different.  Neither  is  the  peculiar  motion  of  animalcula 
less  remarkable  ;  in  several  species,  it  consists  of  inces- 
sant gyration  on  the  head  as  a  centre,  or  around  a  partic- 
ular point,  as  if  one  of  the  foci  of  an  ellipse  ;  the  pro- 
gression of  others  is  by  means  of  leaps  or  undulations  ; 
some  swim  with  the  velocity  of  an  arrow,  and  the  eye  can 
scarcely  follow  them  ;  some  drag  their  unwieldy  bodies 
along  with  painful  exertion  ;  and  others,  again,  seem  to 
persist  in  perpetual  rest."* 

In  turning  to  the  organs  of  these  microscopic  animals, 
we  shall  find  equal  subject  for  admiration.  Some  take 
their  food  by  absorption,  being  destitute  of  a  mouth  ; 
others  have  a  mouth,  and  several  stomachs,  amounting, 
sometimes,  to  the  remarkable  number  of  forty  or  fifty  ; 
some  are  without  eyes,  others  have  several  ;  some  have 
mandibles,  and  others  have  processes  resembling  eggs  ; 
while  many  have  their  mouths  fringed  with  ray-like 
bristles.  In  many,  the  internal  structure  is  quite  pecu- 
liar ;  in  others,  it  bears  a  remarkable  analogy  to  that  of 
higher  species.  Each  class  has  its  own  particular  food  ; 
some  live  on  vegetable  substances,  others  are  predaceous, 
and  others,  again,  seem  to  derive  their  nourishment  en- 
tirely from  absorbing  the  liquid  in  which  they  exist. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  all  this  minute  organiza- 
tion, and  these  various  appetites,  habits,  and  motions, 
belong  to  existences  too  minute,  in  most  instances,  to  be 
even  discernible  by  the  human  eye  ;  and  we  shall  find  it 
almost  as  difficult  to  stretch  our  imagination  downwards, 
to  the  infinitely  little  among  created  objects,  as  it  was  to 
rise  to  the  contemplation  of  the  infinitely  great.  To  the 
minute  subdivision  of  matter  there  seems  to  be  no  con- 
ceivable bounds.  This  is  not  very  hard  to  admit  ;  but, 
to  be  compelled  to  believe  that  the  most  minute  particle 

*  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia — article  Animalcule,  written  by  Dalzell, 
the  Translator  of  Spallanzani. 


142  WONDERS   OF  THE  MICROSCOPE. 

which  our  fancy  can  frame  is  an  organized  and  living  be- 
ing ;  that  it  has  a  complex  system  of  members,  each  of 
which  is  most  skilfully  fitted  for  its  peculiar  functions ; 
that  the  processes  of  digestion,  of  nutrition,  and  of  re- 
production, are  carried  on  in  these  invisible  particles  with 
equal  perfection  as  in  our  own  bodies  ;  that  they  have 
instincts,  and  habits,  and  powers  of  choice  and  of  enjoy- 
ment : — all  this  appears  so  amazing,  that  the  mind  can 
scarcely  yield  itself  to  the  belief.  And  yet,  why  should 
it  not  ?  All  magnitude  and  quantity  are  relative.  We 
judge  of  them  merely  by  the  measure  of  our  own  expe- 
rience ;  and,  if  we  could  but  sufficiently  disengage  our 
minds  to  take  an  abstract  view,  we  should  perceive  that 
there  is,  in  reality,  nothing  more  incredible  in  the  subdi- 
vision and  organization  of  what  appears  to  us  infinitely 
minute,  than  in  the  construction  of  the  animals  with 
which  our  senses  are  conversant. 

Yet  what  an  amazing  view  is  opened  to  us,  of  the 
Creator,  and  his  infinitely  diversified  works  !  The  ex- 
clamation of  Pliny,  with  regard  to  insects,  may,  with  pe- 
culiar emphasis,  be  applied  to  the  wonders  of  the  micro- 
scopic world  : — In  his  tarn  parvis,  atque  tarn  nullis,  quoe, 
ratio ,  quanta  vis,  quam  inextricabilis  perfectio  !*  It  may 
be  difficult  to  determine  to  what  extent,  or  even  in  what 
manner,  these  innumerable  myriads  of  invisible  beings 
produce  a  salutary  effect  on  the  visible  world  ;  but  we 
may  be  sure  that  it  was  not  without  a  benevolent  object 
that  they  were  every  where  scattered  over  the  world. 
Like  the  larvae  of  certain  insects,  they  probably  act  the 
important  part  of  scavengers,  in  removing  nuisances  from 
the  liquids  in  which  they  live,  and  preserving  in  them  a 
healthy  action.  At  all  events,  besides  enjoying,  as  they 
doubtless  do,  a  kind  of  happiness  in  themselves,  they 
furnish  food  to  animals  of  a  somewhat  higher  species, 
while  these,  again,  afford  support  to  animals  still  higher 
in  the  scale,  and  so  on  through  all  the  gradations  of  ani- 
mated beings, — one  species  preying  upon  another,  and 
thus,  by  a  mysterious  arrangement,  increasing  the  quanti- 

*  ['  In  these  atoms,  and,  as  it  were,  nothings,  what  a  plan  is  exhibited, 
what  power,  what  inscrutable  perfection  !' — AM.  ED.] 


PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS   COMPARED.  143 

ty  of  living  creatures,  by  an  increase  of  their  means  of 
subsistence.  It  is  truly  wonderful  to  observe  the  wise 
contrivances  by  which  life  is  sustained,  in  all  its  forms. 
First,  from  the  crude  earth  springs  the  vegetable  by 
which  food  is  elaborated  for  living  creatures  ;  and  then 
follow  the  countless  hosts  of  invisibles,  which  prey  on 
these,  or  their  infusions,  and  on  one  another  ;  and  then, 
rising  through  numerous  grades,  in  a  thousand  different 
forms,  and  with  continually  varying  faculties  and  habits, 
come  the  various  orders  of  sentient  beings,  which  fill  and 
adorn  the  visible  creation,  deriving  their  food,  like  their 
microscopic  fellow-creatures,  some  directly  from  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  others  from  the  bodies  of  animals 
which  have  died  a  natural  death,  and  others  again  by  the 
destruction  of  living  creatures.  Such  is  the  law  of  ex- 
istence, exhibiting  the  clearest  evidence  of  wise  contriv- 
ance, but  yet  marked  in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  particu- 
lars, with  the  peculiar  character  belonging  to  a  world  of 
evils  and  compensations. 


SIXTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

I.     PLANTS    AND    ANIMALS    COMPARED. 

IT  is  my  intention  now  to  devote  some  papers  to  the 
consideration  of  what  has  been  called  the  hibernation* 
of  plants  and  animals  ;  but  before  entering  on  this  subject, 
I  shall  make  a  few  observations  on  some  of  the  general 
characters  in  which  vegetables  and  animals  resemble  each 
other,  and  of  others  in  which  they  differ.  Such  an  exam- 
ination is  not  only  curious  in  itself,  and  satisfactory,  as 
illustrating  the  remarkable  unity  of  design  which  exists 
in  creation,  but  useful  to  our  purpose,  as  forming  a  proper 
introduction  to  the  various  particulars  which  I  shall  af- 
terwards have  to  investigate. 

*  [Mode  of  passing  the  winter,  or  wintering. — AM.  ED.] 


144  PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS   COMPARED. 

The  first  and  most  important  resemblance  between 
plants  and  animals,  is  in  their  possessing  what  has  been 
called  a  living  principle.  This  constitutes  the  chief  differ- 
ence between  organized  and  unorganized  existences  ;  and 
it  is  only  while  it  exists  in  the  former,  that  these  exhibit 
the  other  qualities  by  which  they  are  distinguished  from 
brute  matter.  What  this  living  principle  is,  it  may  be 
impossible  to  say  ;  but  that  it  is  something  which  pos- 
sesses distinct  properties,  and  performs  peculiar  functions, 
the  most  ignorant  are  aware.  An  animal  breathes,  and 
moves,  and  feels,  and  performs  certain  actions,  for  a  time: 
This  is  animal  life.  It  then  ceases  to  show  any  of  these 
properties  ;  it  lies  motionless  and  insensible  ;  it  under- 
goes rapid  decomposition,  and  is  resolved  into  its  origi- 
nal elements  :  This  is  death.  And  something  analo- 
gous to  this  takes  place  in  plants.  The  living  principle 
appears,  indeed,  under  a  different  and  less  perfect  modi- 
fication ;  but  still  it  is  there.  Although  vegetable  exist- 
ences have  no  voluntary  motion,  they  yet  possess  cer- 
tain vital  functions  ;  they  select  and  secrete  their  food  ; 
they  grow ;  they  expand  and  flourish  :  This  is  vegeta- 
ble life.  After  a  time,  these  functions  cease  ;  they 
droop,  decay,  and  are  decomposed  :  Their  life  is  fled. 

Both  in  animals  and  vegetables,  the  principle  of  life 
is  endowed,  or  at  least  connected,  with  a  power  of  re- 
pairing injuries  to  a  certain  extent,  so  as  to  reproduce 
decayed  or  destroyed  parts.  In  both,  also,  there  exists 
a  power  of  reproducing  the  species.  Nor  is  the  similar- 
ity less  remarkable  in  regard  to  a  property,  the  existence 
of  which,  in  vegetables,  was,  till  lately,  but  little  known,— 
I  mean  the  circulation  of  a  fluid  through  every  part  of 
the  body.  That  the  blood  circulated  through  the  veins 
of  animals,  was  a  fact  which  could  never  escape  obser- 
vation, although  the  principle  on  which  this  remarkable 
function  depended,  was  but  lately  discovered  ;  but  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  suspected,  till  within  these  few 
years,  that  there  was  an  analogous  circulation  through 
vegetable  substances.  That  sap  existed  in  plants,  in- 
deed, was  a  familiar  fact,  and  even  that  it  was  to  be 
found  in  greater  profusion  at  one  season  than  at  another  ; 


PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS   COMPARED.  145 

but  it  now  appears  to  be  satisfactorily  ascertained,  that 
there  is  a  regular  and  periodical  circulation  of  the  sap 
from  the  root,  through  the  stem  of  the  plant,  to  the 
branches,  buds  and  leaves  ;  and  back  again  through  the 
bark  to  the  root  ;  and  that  this  circulation  is  as  essen- 
tially necessary  to  the  life  and  growth  of  vegetables,  as 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  is  to  the  life  and  growth  of 
animals. 

In  the  manner  of  continuing  the  species,  too,  there 
are  some  curious  resemblances  between  the  vegetable 
and  animal  creation.  Besides  that  the  whole  classes  of 
plants,  like  animals,  with  few  exceptions,  are  divided 
into  male  and  female,  there  is  another  resemblance,  which 
will  scarcely  be  considered  fanciful.  All  the  winged 
tribes,  and  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  sea,  as  well  as 
amphibious  animals,  reproduce  the  species  by  means 
of  eggs.  In  like  manner,  the  whole  races  of  plants, 
from  the  moss  to  the  tree,  with  scarcely  any  exception, 
propagate  their  species  by  means  of  seeds,  which,  in  many 
remarkable  particulars,  deserve  the  name  of  vegetable 
eggs. 

Animals  seem  to  differ  essentially  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  in  the  possession  of  sensibility, — a  property 
which  the  Author  of  Nature  has  apparently  denied  to 
the  latter.  This  quality  forms  the  first  step  in  the  scale, 
by  which  the  former  rises  above  the  latter  ;  but,  as  it  has 
pleased  the  Almighty  to  cause  the  various  grades  of  ex- 
istences to  run,  as  it  were,  into  each  other,  we  see  here, 
also,  a  connecting  link  of  the  chain,  in  the  wonderful 
properties  of  the  sensitive  plant,  with  which  most  of  my 
readers  are  probably  familiar,  which,  as  it  were,  simulates 
sensibility,  and  approaches  so  near  this  vital  principle, 
that  authors  who  delight  in  those  theories  which  aim  at 
confounding  the  distinctions  that  subsist  among  organ- 
ized existences,  have  plausibly  maintained  the  identity 
of  the  one  with  the  other. 

I  have  said, that  plants,  as  well  as  animals,  select  and 

secrete  their  food  ;  but  there  is  a  marked  difference  both 

in  the  nature  of  the  food,  and  in  the  process  by  which 

this  nourishment  is  conveyed  and  appropriated.      The 

i.  13  vii. 


146  HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. 

vegetable,  adhering  to  the  soil,  draws  its  food  from  thence, 
through  the  medium  of  roots,  by  mechanical  action, 
without  volition,  without  feeling,  and  without  locomotion  ; 
and  that  food  is  inorganic  matter.  The  animal,  on  the 
contrary,  seeks  for  its  food  by  a  voluntary  action,  receives 
it  into  its  system  by  a  mouth,  digests  it  in  a  stomach, 
and  rejects  crudities  by  an  intestinal  canal.  Its  food  is 
organized  matter,  either  animal  or  vegetable  ;  the  Creator 
having  appointed  the  nourishment  of  this  superior  class 
to  be  elaborated  from  crude  and  indigestible  materials  by 
the  organized,  indeed,  but  insentient  creation  below  them. 
This  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  that  astonishing  gradation 
of  beings  with  which  the  world  is  stored,  and  cannot  but 
be  contemplated  with  admiration  and  gratitude. 

The  view  which  is  presented  to  us,  even  on  the  most 
cursory  contemplation  of  organized  matter,  as  may  be 
perceived  from  these  remarks,  is  that  of  a  comprehensive 
whole,  united  together  with  the  most  consummate  wis- 
dom, and  beautifully  harmonizing  in  all  its  parts  ;  and 
this  impression  will  be  found  to  be  mightily  confirmed 
and  strengthened,  when  we  come  to  consider  the  details. 


SIXTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

II.  HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. ADJUSTMENT  OF  THE  CONSTI- 
TUTION OF  PLANTS  TO  THE  ANNUAL  CYCLE. 

FROM  what  has  been  already  said,  it  appears  that  the 
chilly  nature  of  the  season  is  not  the  only  cause  of  the 
changes  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  which  begin  in  au- 
tumn, and  are  consummated  in  winter.  The  disappear- 
ance of  flowers  and  fruits,  the  fall  of  the  leaf,  and  the 
general  sterility  which  prevails,  are  evidently  the  indica- 
tions of  a  cycle,  belonging  to  the  constitution  of  this 
department  of  Nature,  which  corresponds  with  the  cycle 
of  the  year,  and  affords,  by  its  existence,  a  new  proof 


ADJUSTMENT   TO   THE   ANNUAL   CYCLE.  147 

of  wise  adaptation.  The  effects  produced  by  the  sudden 
occurrence  of  a  tract  of  frosty  and  tempestuous  weather 
in  summer,  compared  with  a  similar  occurrence  in  win- 
ter, has  been  elsewhere  alluded  to,  as  illustrative  of  this 
principle.  But  a  thousand  other  illustrations  might  be 
given.  There  is  something  exceedingly  interesting  and 
instructive  in  this  view  of  the  subject.  The  nice  adjust- 
ment of  organic  substances  to  climate,  has  already  been 
slightly  noticed ;  and,  were  this  inquiry  to  be  followed 
out  in  detail,  it  could  not  fail  to  afford  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  the  same  kind  of  contrivance  with  that  to  which 
we  are  now  adverting.  Every  where  we  should  find  the 
productions  of  the  soil  admirably  adapted  to  their  local- 
ities, as  to  nourishment  and  climate ;  and,  in  the  phys- 
ical distribution  of  plants,  we  should  discover  new  grounds 
for  adoring  the  perfections  of  the  Creator.  The  most 
superficial  comparison  of  the  plants  of  tropical  regions 
with  those  of  the  polar  circles,  would  be  sufficient  for 
this  purpose.  In  the  diminutive  Empetrum  nigrum,* 
with  its  well- flavored  berries,  which  forms  probably  the 
last  link  of  the  descending  chain  of  fruits  in  our  progress 
to  the  poles,  we  observe  the  same  careful  adaptation  of 
vegetation  to  the  circumstances  of  external  nature,  which 
forces  itself  on  our  view  in  the  majestic  and  luxuriant 
productions  of  the  equator. 

In  the  extremes  of  climate,  taken  on  the  average,  we 
have,  as  it  were,  permanent  summer,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  permanent  winter  on  the  other  ;  but,  in  the  temper- 
ate regions,  we  have  a  regular  alternation  of  modified 
heat  and  cold,  which  requires  a  different  constitution  of 
the  vegetable  creation  ;  and  that  constitution  has  been 
bestowed.  We  here  find  the  gradual  developement  of 
seeds,  and  shooting  forth  of  buds  and  leaves,  in  spring ; 
the  vigor  and  prime  of  vegetation  in  summer  ;  its  ma- 
turity and  commencing  decay  in  autumn  ;  its  temporary 

*  [The  crow-berry  or  crake-berry  ;  a  small  fruit  which  grows  wild  in 
the  northern  countries  of  Europe.  Professor  Bigelow  tells  us  that  it  is 
also  to  be  found  on  the  summits  of  our  White  Mountains.  The  berry 
is  roundish  and  black,  growing  on  a  prostrate  shrub,  with  small,  dense, 
evergreen  foliage. — AM.  ED.] 


148  HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. 

death  in  winter.  Now,  what  deserves  to  be  peculiarly 
remarked  in  this,  is  the  adjusted  correspondence  of  this 
annual  revolution  in  plants,  to  the  precise  circumstances 
of  the  character  and  duration  of  the  seasons. 

That  the  stimulants  of  heat  and  cold  exercise  a  consid- 
erable influence  in  promoting  or  retarding  the  periodical 
changes  in  the  vegetable  world,  there  can  be  no  doubt  ; 
and  this,  indeed,  is  just  one  of  those  wise  contrivances 
which  indicate  design  ;  as,  without  this  modifying  power, 
a  slight  variation  in  the  temperature  of  the  season,  such 
as  frequently  takes  place  in  all  countries,  and  especially 
in  a  changeable  climate  like  ours,  might  be  productive 
of  fatal  effects  ;  but  the  influence  of  heat  and  cold  does 
not  extend  beyond  a  certain  range,  and  is  undoubtedly 
controlled,  as  we  have  said,  by  another  principle,  which 
we  have  called  the  natural  constitution  of  plants.  If 
proof  of  this  were  wanting,  we  should  find  it  in  the  fact, 
that  fruit  trees,  for  example,  when  transplanted  from  our 
northern  temperate  zone  to  that  of  the  south,  where  the 
seasons  are  reversed,  continue  to  flourish  for  several 
years  in  the  winter  months  of  these  regions  ;  and,  for  the 
same  reason,  plants  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
from  Australia,  transplanted  to  our  climate,  preserve 
their'  accustomed  period  of  blooming,  notwithstanding 
the  influence  of  an  altered  climate.  Of  this  the  heaths 
of  those  countries,  which  bloom  in  the  most  rigorous  sea- 
son of  our  year,  may  be  taken  as  a  familiar  example. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  functions  of  plants  have  a 
periodical  character,  entirely  independent  of  heat  and  cold. 
Such  stimulants  could  not  produce  the  effects  which 
actually  take  place,  were  not  the  plants  formed  by  the 
Author  of  Nature  to  run  their  annual  cycle.  Now,  let  it 
be  observed,  that  a  year  might,  by  possibility,  be  of  any 
length.  Instead  of  extending  to  twelve  months,  it  might 
be  completed  in  six,  and  all  the  seasons  might  be  com- 
prised in  that  period  ;  or  its  revolution  might  be  length- 
ened to  double,  or  fourfold  its  present  period.  In  either 
case,  the  adjustment  which  now  takes  place  between  the 
seasons  and  the  constitution  of  plants,  would  be  entirely 
destroyed,  and  an  utter  derangement  of  the  vegetable 


ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  ANNUAL  CYCLE.  149 

world  would  take  place.  "  The  processes  of  the  ris- 
ing of  the  sap,"  says  Mr.  Whewell,  "of  the  formation 
of  proper  juices,  the  unfolding  of  leaves,  the  opening  of 
flowers,  the  fecundation  of  the  fruit,  the  ripening  of  the 
seed,  its  proper  deposition  in  order  for  the  reproduction 
of  a  new  plant, — all  these  operations  require  a  certain 
portion  of  time,  which  could  not  be  compressed  into  a 
less  space  than  a  year,  or  at  least  could  not  be  abbrevi- 
ated in  any  very  great  degree.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  the  winter  were  greatly  longer  than  it  now  is,  many 
seeds  would  not  germinate  at  the  return  of  spring." 

"  Now,  such  an  adjustment, "adds  this  author,  u  must 
surely  be  accepted  as  a  proof  of  design  exercised  in  the 
formation  of  the  world.  Why  should  the  solar  year  be 
so  long,  and  no  longer  ?  Or,  this  being  of  such  a  length, 
why  should  the  vegetable  cycle  be  exactly  of  the  same 
length  ?  Can  this  be  chance  ?  And  this  occurs,  be  it 
observed,  not  in  one,  or  in  a  few  species  of  plants,  but 
in  thousands.  Take  a  small  portion  only  of  known 
species,  as  the  most  obviously  endowed  with  this  adjust- 
ment, and  say  ten  thousand.  How  should  all  these  or- 
ganized bodies  be  constructed  for  the  same  period  of  the 
year  ?  How  should  all  these  machines  be  wound  up,  so 
as  to  go  for  the  same  time  ?  Even  allowing  that  they 
could  bear  a  year  of  a  month  longer  or  shorter,  how  do 
they  all  come  within  such  limits?  No  chance  could  pro- 
duce such  a  result ;  and,  if  not  by  chance,  how  other- 
wise could  such  a  coincidence  occur,  than  by  an  inten- 
tional adjustment  of  these  two  things  to  one  another  ? — 
by  a  selection  of  such  an  organization  in  plants,  as  would 
fit  them  to  the  earth  on  which  they  were  to  grow  ;  by  an 
adaptation  of  construction  to  conditions  ;  of  the  scale  of 
the  construction  to  the  scale  of  conditions."* 

The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  chapter  from  which 
we  have  just  quoted,  which  carries  the  view  of  adjust- 
ment between  organized  existences  and  the  annual  cycle 
still  farther,  is  also  well  worthy  of  being  quoted. — "  The 
same  kind  of  argument  might  be  applied  to  the  animal 

*Whewell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  pp.  28,  29. 
13* 


150  HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. 

creation.  The  pairing,  nesting,  hatching,  fledging,  and 
flight  of  birds,  for  instance,  occupy  each  its  peculiar 
time  of  the  year  ;  and,  together  with  a  proper  period  of 
rest,  fill  up  the  twelve  months.  The  transformations  of 
most  insects  have  a  similar  reference  to  the  seasons,  their 
progress,  and  duration.  It  is  not  our  business  here  to 
settle  the  details  of  such  provisions,  beautiful  and  strik- 
ing as  they  are.  But  the  prevalence  of  the  great  law  of 
periodicity  in  the  vital  functions  of  organized  beings,  will 
be  allowed  to  have  a  claim  to  be  considered  in  its  refer- 
ence to  astronomy,  when  it  is  seen  that  their  periodical 
constitution  derives  its  use  from  the  periodical  motions 
of  the  planets  round  the  sun  ;  and  that  the  duration  of  such 
cycles  in  the  existence  of  plants  and  animals,  has  a  refer- 
ence to  the  arbitrary  elements  of  the  solar  system, — a  re- 
ference which  we  maintain  is  inexplicable  and  unintelligible 
except  by  admitting  into  our  conceptions  an  Intelligent 
Author  alike  of  the  organic  and  inorganic  universe. " 


SIXTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

III. HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. PHYSIOLOGICAL  CONDITION 

OF  PLANTS  DURING  WINTER. 

THE  beautiful  variety  of  shades  in  our  woods  and 
groves,  towards  the  close  of  autumn,  which  the  most  in- 
attentive observer  must  have  admired,  arises  from  the 
preparation  which  Nature  is  making  for  the  winter  state 
of  our  shrubs  and  trees.  The  functions  of  the  produc- 
tive seasons  are  ended  ;  the  forest  trees  have  completed 
their  annual  growth  ;  the  fruit-bearing  trees  have  yielded 
their  stores  ;  and  the  leaves,  which  performed  such  an 
important  part  in  these  processes,  being  no  longer  use- 
ful, are  to  be  dropped,  that  they  may,  by  mingling  with 
their  parent  earth,  supply  the  waste  of  the  vegetable  soil, 
and  repair  its  exhaustion  from  the  efforts  of  the  preced- 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CONDITION.  151 

ing  year.  The  sap  which  had  risen  profusely  in  the  be- 
ginning of  autumn,  to  aid  Nature  in  giving  maturity  to  the 
fruits,  and  vigor  to  the  young  branches,  and  thus  to 
crown  the  labors  of  the  year,  having  performed  this  im- 
portant office,  has  begun  to  flow  downwards  through  the 
inner  integuments  of  the  bark,  thus  completing  its  peri- 
odical circulation.  The  leaf  and  flower-bud,  destined  to 
be  developed  in  the  ensuing  spring,  have  been  already 
formed,  and  are  carefully  shut  up  in  their  winter  cerements. 
The  tree  exposed  naked  to  the  wintry  blast,  is  rendered, 
by  a  wonderful  provision  of  the  All-wise  Creator,  proof 
against  the  injurious  effects  of  frost.  It  is  in  its  state 
of  hybernation,  like  many  beasts  and  insects  ;  for  here, 
too,  the  analogy  of  Nature  is  striking  : — it  has  fallen 
into  its  winter  sleep. 

The  proofs  of  this  state  of  torpidity  are  numerous  and 
interesting.  Among  these,  the  most  familiar  is  that  of 
the  capability  of  removal,  without  material  injury,  to 
another  place.  There  is  no  size  or  age  of  a  tree  which 
would  prevent  it  from  enduring  transportation,  at  this 
season,  with  perfect  safety,  provided  only  it  could  be 
effected  without  greatly  injuring  the  root ;  and  it  is  only 
in  winter  that  such  an  experiment  can  be  performed  with 
any  chance  of  success.  Why?  Because  the  powers  of 
Nature  are  then  suspended.  The  plant  has  ceased  to 
draw  nourishment  from  the  earth,  and  its  vital  principle, 
though  by  no  means  extinguished,  is  in  a  state  of  tem- 
porary lethargy. 

Now,  the  importance  of  this  state  of  plants,  in  winter, 
will  be  obvious,  if  we  consider  the  condition  of  the  soil 
and  climate  of  temperate  regions,  during  that  period. 
The  genial  warmth  which  caused  the  juices  to  flow  is 
gone  ;  the  ground  is  frequently  rendered,  by  frost,  rigid 
and  almost  impenetrable  ;  tempestuous  weather  would 
threaten  the  destruction  even  of  firmly  rooted  trees,  did 
not  the  removal  of  the  leaves  admit  a  free  passage  to  the 
wind  through  the  branches  ;  the  cold  would  blast  the 
delicate  fibre  of  the  growing  shoot.  All  these  dangers 
are  either  entirely  provided  against,  or  at  least  rendered 
by  no  means  formidable,  by  the  torpidity  which  invades 


152  HYBERNATION  OP  PLANTS. 

the  vegetable  creation.  The  plant  still  lives,  but  its  food 
is  gone  ;  its  active  operations  would  expose  it  to  be  the 
sport  of  the  angry  elements,  and  therefore  it  has  retired 
within  itself,  like  the  coiled  hedgehog,  to  sleep  out  the 
ungenial  season,  and  to  prepare,  with  new  vigor,  for  the 
exercise  of  its  renovated  powers,  in  the  coming  spring. 
Much  less  is  known  of  the  physiology  of  plants,  than 
the  interesting  nature  of  the  subject  would  lead  us  to 
desire  ;  but  there  is  one  circumstance  connected  with 
their  state  in  winter,  which  is  too  curious  to  be  over- 
looked. The  vital  principle,  whatever  it  may  be,  exerts 
a  peculiar  energy  in  defending  them  from  the  influence 
of  frost.  A  very  simple  experiment,  within  the  power 
of  every  person,  will  show  this.  Let  a  bud  be  cut  off 
from  the  parent  tree,  and  suspended,  during  a  strong 
frost,  either  by  a  string,  or  even  within  a  glass  vessel, 
upon  one  of  the  branches,  and  it  will  be  found  that  this 
severed  bud  will  be  completely  frozen  through,  while  all 
the  buds  still  attached  to  the  tree,  are  entirely  unaffected 
by  the  cold.  There  is,  then,  a  living  power  in  plants 
which,  of  itself,  resists,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the 
effects  of  cold.  But  the  Author  of  Nature  does  not 
rest  the  security  of  vegetable  productions  on  this  princi- 
ple ; — on  the  contrary,  the  safety  of  the  bud,  on  which 
the  future  existence  of  the  plant  so  materially  depends, 
is  provided  for  by  its  careful  envelopement  in  plies  of 
scales,  or  within  a  downy  substance,  besides  being  often 
united  together  by  a  coat  of  resinous  matter,  of  which 
latter  state  the  horse-chestnut  furnishes  a  familiar  example. 
The  intention  of  this  kind  of  protection  is  distinctly  in- 
dicated by  the  fact,  that  it  occurs  only  in  northern 
countries,  the  buds  of  trees  in  milder  regions  being  des- 
titute of  the  scaly  covering.  The  security  from  injury, 
which  the  resinous  coat  affords,  may  be  proved  by  a 
simple  experiment.  Let  a  bud  of  this  kind  be  taken 
from  the  tree,  and,  sealing  up  the  cut  end,  let  it  be 
plunged  into  the  water  ;  and  in  this  state  it  may  be  kept 
uninjured  for  several  years.  In  tropical  regions,  the  leaf 
or  flower,  not  requiring  any  such  means  of  safety,  starts 
into  existence  at  once,  without  the  intervention  of  buds, 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CONDITION.  153 

—another  proof  of  the  designing  hand  of  Nature  m  this 
provision. 

We  have  mentioned  the  power  possessed  by  plants,  in 
a  living  state,  of  resisting  the  effects  of  cold  ;  and  this 
fact  has  led  some  physiologists  to  conceive,  that  an  inter- 
nal heat  is  generated  in  plants,  as  it  is  in  the  animal 
frame.  The  experiments,  however,  which  have  been 
made  to  test  this  opinion,  have  been  of  somewhat  doubt- 
ful result,  though  some  curious  facts  have  been  adduced 
in  confirmation  of  it.  It  is  well  known,  for  example, 
that  snow  dissolves  more  quickly  in  a  meadow  than  on 
bare  ground  ;  and  this  has,  with  apparent  force,  been 
attributed  to  the  existence  of  a  slight  degree  of  heat  in 
the  vegetation.  In  certain  states  of  some  plants,  it  has 
been  ascertained,  that  heat  is  evolved.  M.  Hubert  re- 
lates a  striking  example  of  this  kind,  in  the  spadices  of 
a  Madagascar  plant, — the  Arum  cordifolium.  On  apply- 
ing a  thermometer  to  five  spadices,  which  had  unfolded  in 
the  preceding  night,  he  observed  a  rise  of  twenty-five  de- 
grees from  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere.  The  tem- 
perature became  gradually  lower,  till,  in  the  evening  of  the 
second  day,  the  difference  between  the  heat  of  the  spa- 
dices  and  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  was  only  seven 
degrees.  The  observation  which  we  have  recorded  above, 
of  the  power  ot  living  buds  to  resist  frost,  Willdenow 
extends  to  the  sap  of  trees,  which,  he  says,  will  remain 
unfrozen  in  very  intense  cold.  The  case,  however, 
is  different,  as  he  informs  us,  in  plants  of  warm  and  hot 
regions.  The  sap  of  these  plants  congeals  on  a  very 
Alight  cold,  and  the  plants  themselves  decay  ;  which 
shows  a  very  remarkable  difference  between  tropical 
plants  and  those  of  colder  climates,  and  strikingly  indi- 
cates intention.  Another  observation  is,  that,  although 
the  sap  will  not  congeal  in  winter,  yet,  after  the  buds 
have  been  forced  out  by  warm  weather  in  spring,  it  will 
readily  congeal  on  exposure  to  cold, — an  effect  which 
Dr.  Smith  ascribes  to  "  the  increased  susceptibility  of 
the  vital  principle,"  at  that  season.  Dead  or  diseased 
branches,  too,  are  said  to  be  more  liable  to  be  frostbitten 
than  living  and  sound  ones.  These  facts,  though  not 


154  HYBERNATION   OF  PLANTS. 

conclusive,  seem  to  give  probability  to  the  opinion,  that 
the  degree  of  heat  necessary  to  the  support  of  vegetable 
life,  in  winter,  is  maintained  by  natural  processes  going 
on  in  the  plant  itself.  But,  whatever  truth  there  may  be 
in  such  an  opinion,  the  facts  themselves  are  sufficient  to 
show  the  impress  of  an  Intelligent  Cause,  in  this,  as  in 
every  other  department  of  organized  matter.  We  may 
not  be  able  satisfactorily  to  trace  all  the  various  steps  of 
the  process,  but  we  are  able  confidently  to  say,  Here, 
too,  is  the  hand  of  God. 


SIXTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

IV.    HYBERNATION    OP    PLANTS. THEIR  PHYSIOLOGICAL  CON- 
DITION CONTINUED. 

WE  have  already  seen  some  of  the  provisions  made 
for  the  preservation,  during  this  inclement  season,  of 
plants  of  larger  growth,  which  are  exposed,  leafless,  and 
bare,  to  all  the  severity  of  a  chilling  atmosphere  ;  and  we 
are  now  to  mention  other  provisions  for  a  similar  purpose, 
which  are  no  less  admirable.  One  reason,  as  we  have 
already  hinted,  why  trees  of  great  dimensions  throw  off 
their  summer  clothing  of  leaves,  is,  that  they  may  more 
readily  resist  the  force  of  the  winds,  which  frequently 
blow  with  fury  in  the  winter.  But  there  are  some  tree* 
which  are  not  endowed  with  this  property ;  among  these, 
the  pine  tribe  are  the  most  common  and  conspicuous. 
Now,  remark  the  contrivances  by  which  the  difficulty 
arising  from  such  a  deviation  is  met.  In  the  first  place, 
the  leaves,  if  they  deserve  that  name,  instead  of  being 
broad  and  flat,  like  those  of  other  trees,  are  rather  in  the 
form  of  bristles, — which  shape  suffers  the  wind  to  pass 
freely  through,  and  offers  the  smallest  resistance  ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  the  roots  of  this  class  of  trees  are 
spread  widely  along  the  surface  of  the  earth,  laying  fast 


PHYSIOLOGICAL   CONDITION.  155 

hold  of  the  soil,  as  they  intertwine  among  each  other, 
and  insert  their  numerous  fibres  ;  by  which  contrivance 
they  are  able  to  stand  firm  upon  their  extended  base, 
easily  resisting  the  force  of  all  ordinary  tempests.  This 
fact  must  have  struck  the  mind  of  any  one,  who  has 
happened  to  observe  the  great  breadth  of  earth  and  of 
roots  attached  to  a  fir-tree  overthrown  by  some  furious 
storm. 

There  is  a  remark,  of  a  more  general  nature,  which 
occurs  here.  All  trees  are  known  to  attach  their  roots 
to  the  soil,  with  more  or  less  tenacity,  in  proportion  to 
their  exposure  to  the  wind.  There  is  nothing  more  fa- 
miliar to  the  wood-forester  than  this  striking  fact,  or  more 
necessary  for  him  to  know.  The  trees,  on  the  outside 
of  a  grove  or  wood  of  pine,  are  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  soil, 
that  scarcely  any  tempest  can  uproot  them ;  and  those 
shelter  the  rest,  whose  hold  is  not  so  secure.  Were  this 
outer  ring  to  be  cut  down,  the  wind,  thus  suddenly  let 
in,  would  be  sure  to  injure  the  rest,  and  the  safety  of  the 
whole  wood  might  be  endangered.  Here  we  find  an  in- 
stance of  adaptation  to  circumstances,  which  cannot  be 
too  much  admired. 

Other  kinds  of  evergreens,  which  enliven  the  winter 
months,  are  to  be  found  among  shrubs,  and  some  of  the 
lower  species  of  trees.  These  are  more  able  to  resist 
the  fury  of  violent  winds,  on  account  of  their  diminutive 
height,  which  exposes  a  shorter,  and  therefore  less  pow- 
erful, lever  to  the  action  of  this  force,  while  their  roots 
are  equally  adapted,  with  those  of  the  pine,  to  the  pecu- 
liarities of  their  nature.  Besides  this,  the  leaves  of 
these  hardy  plants  are  generally  of  a  solid  texture,  and 
glossy  surface,  well  suited  to  resist  the  various  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  season.  Such  delightful  varieties  seem  to 
have  been  bestowed  on  us,  for  the  purpose  of  affording 
relief  from  the  stern  aspect  of  winter  ;  and  the  grounds 
of  the  rich, show  how  well  a  judicious  use  of  these,  and 
of  various  herbaceous  plants,  can  throw,  over  the  bleak- 
ness of  this  gloomy  season,  some  of  the  charms  of  sum- 
mer. 

If,  from  shrubs  and  trees,  we  turn  to  the  numerous 


156  HYBERNATION  OF  PLANTS. 

and  useful  classes  of  herbs,  we  shall  find  ourselves  intro- 
duced into  a  new  field  of  wonders.  Some  of  these  only 
survive  till  they  have  shed  their  seed  in  autumn ;  and, 
having  thus  provided  for  the  propagation  of  their  spe- 
cies, perish  as  individuals,  and  mingle  with  their  parent 
earth, — resembling,  in  this  respect,  many  species  of  in- 
sects. But  others  survive  the  winter  ;  and  of  these, 
many  die  down  to  the  root,  and  thus,  like  numerous  ani- 
mals, burrow,  as  it  were,  underground,  where,  in  virtue 
of  their  combined  torpidity  and  vital  energy,  they  remain 
secure  from  the  attacks  of  frost,  even  when  it  penetrates 
to  their  retreats.  Here  some  of  them  are  secretly  pre- 
paring, by  mysterious  internal  processes,  for  the  com- 
ing spring ;  while  others  appear  to  lie  entirely  dormant, 
till  more  genial  weather  awake  them  from  their  deep 
sleep.  Again,  other  classes  of  herbaceous  plants  con- 
tinue to  breathe  the  rigors  of  winter,  cheering  our  other- 
wise desolate  gardens  and  fields  with  their  languid  smile, 
and  expanding  their  blossoms,  or  stretching  their  green 
leaves,  from  soil  bound  in  the  iron  fetters  of  ice,  or  cov- 
ered with  a  cold  but  bright  mantle  of  snow.  Of  those 
species  which  survive  the  winter,  some  are  biennial, 
and  others  perennial ;  and  of  the  former  species,  it  has 
been  remarked,  that,  though  their  life  may  be  prolonged 
by  transplanting  them,  and  thus  retarding  the  period  of 
flowering  and  bearing  seed,  yet  no  artificial  means  can 
prevent  their  decay,  after  they  have  provided  for  the 
continuance  of  their  species,  by  exercising  this  import- 
ant function. 

Cowper,  with  his  usual  piety  and  felicity,  adverts  to 
these  paternal  provisions  of  the  God  of  the  seasons  : — 

"He  marks  the  bounds  which  Winter  may  not  pass, 
And  blunts  his  pointed  fury  ;  in  its  case, 
Russet  and  rude,  folds  up  the  tender  germ 
Uninjured,  with  inimitable  art ; 
And,  ere  one  flowery  season  fades  and  dies, 
Designs  the  blooming  wonders  of  the  next." 

Before  closing  this  paper,  we  may  just  hint  at  another 
remarkable  provision  of  Nature,  with  regard  to  plants, 
as  applicable  to  the  present  season  of  the  year, — that  by 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CONDITION.  157 

which  the  vegetable  principle  acquires  a  kind  of  acceler- 
ated impulse,  by  being  pent  up  for  a  more  than  ordinary 
period.  Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  fact,  that  a  cold 
spring  retards  the  vegetation ;  and  that,  when  this  has 
been  the  case  to  a  more  than  ordinary  extent,  a  few  days 
of  warm  weather  succeeding,  will  cause  a  sudden  and 
wonderful  burst  of  vegetation,  which  soon  compensates 
for  the  delay.  Nature  is  in  haste,  as  it  were,  to  regain 
her  lost  time.  This  principle  is  peculiarly  remarkable 
in  very  northern  climates.  Where  the  snow  lies  on  the 
ground  more  than  ten  months  of  the  year,  as  in  Siberia 
and  Lapland,  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  are  all  com- 
prised in  the  short  space  of  five  or  six  weeks  ;  and,  dur- 
ing that  period,  the  whole  process  of  springing,  growing, 
flowering,  producing  fruit,  and  ripening,  is  completed. 
This  is  exemplified  in  a  register  kept  of  the  Siberian 
vegetation,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  : — 

July    1.  Snow  gone. 

9.  Fields  quite  green. 

17.  Plants  at  full  growth. 
25.  Ditto  in  flower. 

August    2.  Fruit  ripe. 

18.  Snow. 

And  from  that  time,  snow  and  ice  to  23d  June,  when  they  begin  to 
melt. 

This  astonishing  elasticity  in  the  principle  of  vegetable 
life,  is  an  exceedingly  striking  provision  of  the  God  of 
Nature,  which  indicates  an  admirable  adaptation  to  a 
very  peculiar  state  of  climate.  Where  Nature  sleeps 
for  five  sixths  of  the  year,  the  plants  sleep  during  the 
same  period  ;  and  yet,  when  they  awake,  they  run  their 
course,  like  other  plants,  only  hastening  their  pace,  that 
they  may  accomplish  it  within  the  allotted  time. 

i.  14  VII« 


158  INSTINCT. 


SIXTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 


INSTINCT. 


IN  proceeding  from  examining  the  state  of  plants  dur- 
ing winter,  to  the  consideration  of  that  of  animals,  the 
subject  of  Instinct  forces  itself  on  our  attention.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  mysterious  and  wonderful  of  all  the 
qualities  inherent  in  organized  beings,  and,  in  its  opera- 
tion, exhibits  so  distinctly  a  Designing  Cause,  separate 
from  the  being  which  possesses  it,  as  to  be  calculated, 
more  perhaps  than  almost  any  other  natural  phenomenon, 
to  carry  to  the  inquiring  mind  a  settled  conviction  of  a 
supreme  and  intelligent  Creator. 

Instinct  has  been  defined  to  be  "the  operation  of  the 
principle  of  organized  life,  by  the  exercise  of  certain  nat- 
ural powers,  directed  to  the  present  or  future  good  of 
the  individual  ;"  and  it  has  been  distinguished  from  rea- 
son, by  considering  the  latter  as  "the  operation  of  the 
principle  of  intellectual  life,  by  the  exercise  of  certain 
acquired  powers,  directed  to  the  same  end."*  This  defi- 
nition, without  entering  into  the  theory  with  which  it  is 
connected,  seems  sufficiently  accurate  to  answer  our 
present  object. 

Symptoms  of  an  instinctive  principle,  as  thus  defined, 
are  to  be  found  in  various  productions  of  the  vegetable 
world.  Two  or  three  instances  of  this  kind  may  be 
mentioned. 

A  strawberry  offset,  planted  in  a  patch  of  sand,  will 
send  forth  almost  the  whole  of  its  runners  in  the  direc- 
tion in  which  the  proper  soil  lies  nearest. 

When  a  tree,  which  requires  much  moisture,  has  been 
planted  in  a  dry  soil,  in  the  vicinity  of  water,  it  has  been 
observed,  that  much  the  greater  proportion  of  its  roots 
have  been  directed  towards  the  water. 

*  Good's  'Book  of  Nature,'  vol.  ii.  p.  141. 


INSTINCT.  159 

Trees  which  have  sprung  up  on  a  bare  rock,  will  send 
out  their  roots  in  every  direction,  till  they  reach  the  soil 
below.  Every  one  is  familiar  with  this  fact,  who  has 
frequented  a  wooded  rocky  district. 

A  fact  of  a  similar  nature,  which  is  noticed,  I  think, 
by  Lord  Kames,  and  which  I  have  myself  witnessed, 
occurred  at  the  Abbey  of  Sweetheart,  in  Galloway,  where 
an  ash- tree,  growing  on  the  wall  which  surrounds  the 
abbey,  after  exhausting  the  small  quantity  of  soil  which 
had  collected  on  its  site,  stopped  from  growing  for  a  time, 
and  seemed  to  unite  all  its  strength  in  sending  down  a 
root  to  the  ground.  As  soon  as  this  root  had  established 
itself  in  the  soil,  the  tree  began  again  to  flourish  and  in- 
crease, till  it  grew  to  a  considerable  size. 

I  have  somewhere  seen  an  account  of  a  tree,  which 
grew  in  the  valley  of  the  Earn,  in  Perthshire,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  on  a  scanty  soil,  by  the  bank  of  a  stream,  over 
which,  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  a  footbridge,  covered 
with  turf,  had  been  erected.  The  tree,  taking  advantage 
of  this  circumstance,  pushed  its  roots  through  the  dead 
turf  of  the  bridge,  till  they  fastened  in  the  fertile  soil, 
which  happened  to  be  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream  ; 
and  then,  swelling  and  strengthening  its  new  organ  of 
communication,  drew  sufficient  nourishment  from  this 
source  to  supply  all  the  wants  of  its  nature. 

All  facts  of  this  kind,  and  many  more  that  might  be 
mentioned,  may,  in  my  opinion,  be  clearly  attributed  to 
the  principle  of  instinct. 

Of  instinct  in  animals,  Dr.  Good  gives  the  following 
curious  notices  : — u  All  the  different  species  of  birds,  in 
constructing  their  nests,  not  only  adhere  to  a  peculiar 
plan,  but,  whenever  they  can  obtain  them,  to  peculiar 
kinds  of  materials  ;  but,  if  these  materials  be  not  to  be 
procured,  the  accommodating  power  of  the  instinctive 
principle  directs  them  to  others,  and  suggests  the  best 
substitutes.  Thus,  the  redbreast  uniformly  prefers  oak 
leaves  as  a  lining  for  her  nest,  wherever  she  can  acquire 
them  ;  but,  if  these  are  not  to  be  had,  she  supplies  the 
want  by  moss  and  hair.  So,  when  the  bird  is  of  a  small 
size,  and  the  eggs  are  naturally  numerous,  the  nest  is 


160  INSTINCT. 

always  made  proportionally  warm,  that  the  nestlings 
may  all  equally  partake  of  the  vivifying  heat.  Thus, 
the  wren,  who  lays  from  ten  to  eighteen  eggs,  constructs 
her  little  edifice  with  the  greatest  care,  and  of  the  warm- 
est materials  ;  while  the  plover  and  the  eagle,  whose  eggs 
are  so  few,  that  the  body  may  easily  cover  them,  build  with 
little  solicitude,  and  sometimes  content  themselves  with 
the  naked  cleft  of  a  rock.  And  thus,  too,  in  very  cold 
winters  in  Lapland,  the  fond  waterfowl  will  occasionally 
strip  the  down  off  its  breast,  to  line  its  nest  and  protect 
its  progeny.  When  a  wasp,  in  attempting  to  transport 
a  dead  companion  from  the  nest,  finds  the  load  too  heavy, 
he  cuts  off  its  head  and  carries  it  out  in  two  portions." 

These  illustrations  may  suffice  for  the  present,  espe- 
cially as  by  far  the  greater  share  of  the  facts  relative  to 
the  animal  creation,  which  I  am  about  to  adduce,  must 
be  referred  to  the  same  principle.  Instinct,  I  may  add, 
as  in  some  of  the  above  instances,  does  not  unfrequently 
resemble  reason,  and  it  maybe  united  with, and  modified 
by,  this  quality  ;  but  it  may  always  be  distinguished 
from  it  by  this,  that  its  operations  are  generally  perfect 
of  their  kind ;  that  its  powers  are  precisely  the  same  in 
all  generations  ;  that  they  belong,  nearly  in  an  equal  de- 
gree, to  all  individuals  of  the  same  species  ;  and  that  its 
functions  proceed  blindly  towards  the  attainment  of  an 
important  object,  the  use  and  tendency  of  which  is  not 
perceived  by  the  creature  itself. 

I  have  said,  that  this  principle  is  probably  calculated, 
better  than  any  other  natural  phenomenon,  to  lead  the 
mind  to  an  acknowledgement  of  a  Divine  Hand.  Let  us 
revert,  for  a  few  moments,  to  this  view. 

In  examining  the  general  structure  of  the  universe,  we 
observe  a  few  simple,  though  vast  and  comprehensive, 
powers  inherent  in  matter,  which,  by  their  universal  and 
uniform  operation,  move  Nature  with  the  same  regularity 
as  if  it  were  a  mighty  machine  impelled  by  brute  force  ; 
and  hence  the  indolent  or  skeptical  may  be  inclined  to 
rest  in  the  existence  of  these  powers  as  an  ultimate  fact, 
without  seeking  for  an  intelligent  Creator,  from  whom 
they  emanated,  and  by  whom  they  have  been  adjusted 


INSTINCT.  161 

and  regulated.  The  same  thing  may  take  place  in  con- 
templating the  structure  of  organized  bodies.  So  much 
of  mere  mechanical  power  enters  into  every  process  of 
their  formation,  growth,  and  preservation,  that,  although 
it  does  seem  to  be  the  blindness  of  utter  stupidity  to 
deny  to  these  productions  unequivocal  marks  of  wise  and 
beneficent  design,  it  is  possible  to  conceive,  that,  in 
tracing  the  mere  physical  laws  by  which  their  various 
properties  are  governed,  the  cold  calculations  of  a  con- 
tracted mind  may  proceed  no  further.  On  turning  from 
these  appearances  of  external  nature,  to  the  operations 
of  rational  creatures,  such  minds  may  be  led  to  admire 
the  wisdom  which  contrives,  and  the  power  and  skill 
which  executes,  the  various  plans  of  life,  without  direct- 
ing one  serious  thought  beyond  the  intelligence  of  the 
immediate  agent.  But  it  requires  a  still  greater  degree 
of  obtuseness  and  of  obstinacy,  to  resist  the  evidence 
of  a  designing  and  bountiful  Creator,  in  the  wonders  of 
instinct.  These  are  altogether  independent  of  reasoning 
powers,  and  impel  organized  beings,  by  a  sagacity,  obvi- 
ously not  their  own,  to  compass  important  ends,  which, 
though  essential  to  the  welfare,  and  even  to  the  very  ex- 
istence, not  only  of  the  individual,  but  of  the  species, 
could  not,  by  any  possibility,  be  within  their  contempla- 
tion, being  far  beyond  the  range  of  their  limited  facul- 
ties. Here,  then,  there  is  a  designing  cause,  distinct 
from,  and  superior  to,  the  agent ;  and  this  is  the  more 
clearly  discernible,  because  its  operations  are  governed 
by  other  than  mere  mechanical  powers.  u  I  look  upon 
instinct,"  says  Addison,  "  as  upon  the  principle  of  grav- 
itation in  bodies,  which  is  not  to  be  explained  by  any 
known  qualities  inherent  in  the  bodies  themselves,  nor 
upon  any  laws  of  mechanism  ;  but,  according  to  the  best 
notions  of  the  greatest  philosophers,  is  an  immediate  im- 
pression from  the  First  Mover,  and  the  Divine  energy 
acting  in  the  creatures  ;  such  an  operation  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  as  that  which  determines* all  the  portions  of 
matter  to  their  proper  centre." 
14* 


162  ON  SEEING  GOD  IN  HIS  WORKS. 


SEVENTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

ON  SEEING  GOD  IN  HIS  WORKS! 

ALMOST  all  men,  not  in  the  lowest  stages  of  barbarism 
or  degradation,  are  capable  of  admiring  the  beauties  of 
Nature.  Even  the  dullest  and  most  unreflecting  mind 
is,  at  times,  more  or  less  vividly  impressed  with  the  won- 
derful skill  and  beauty  so  profusely  scattered  over  all 
creation.  But  the  intelligent  eye  is  always  delighted, 
and  frequently  kindled  into  rapture,  by  the  rich  and  splen- 
did scenery  that  on  every  side  solicits  its  attention.  Our 
susceptibility  of  impressions  of  grandeur  or  beauty,  de- 
serves to  be  ranked  among  our  original  faculties  ;  for  it 
is  observable  in  all  classes  of  the  human  family, — refined 
and  exalted  in  the  bosom  of  the  enlightened  European, 
and  not  unfelt  by  the  savage  tenant  of  the  African  or 
American  desert.  A  love  of  Nature  appears  to  be  im- 
planted in  man,  to  feed  the  flame  of  religion  in  his  soul, — 
to  assist  in  leading  him  from  the  wonderfully  contriv- 
ed objects  around  him  to  a  belief  in  an  intelligent  and 
bountiful  Creator.  We  are  told  in  Holy  Scripture,  that 
God  never  left  Himself  without  a  witness  to  the  human 
race,  inasmuch  as  His  power  and  goodness  may  be  always 
clearly  known  from  the  exuberant  plenty  and  beauty  scat- 
tered over  the  earth,  their  magnificent  abode.  As  they 
had  hearts  to  feel  a  sentiment  of  gratitude  for  bounty 
lavishly  bestowed,  and  understandings  to  reason  from 
effects  to  causes,  the  ancient  heathen  were  altogether  in- 
excusable in  not  knowing  the  true  God,  the  great  First 
Cause  of  all,  and  the  source  of  "  every  good  and  per- 
fect gift."  They  wandered  from  the  right  way,  only  be- 
cause they  were  heedless  or  wilfully  perverse.  Their 
feelings  and  powers  became  the  instruments  of  their  self- 
delusion  ;  and,  instead  of  seeing  in  Nature  a  supreme  and 
infinite  God,  they  saw  a  thousand  grovelling  divinities  ; 


ON  SEEING  GOD  IN  HIS   WORKS.  163 

and  fancy  lent  all  the  fascinations  of  poetry  to  their  cor- 
rupt and  irrational  mythology. 

But  if  the  heathen,  who  lived  in  times  of  rudeness 
and  ignorance,  were  subject  to  condemnation  for  abusing 
their  faculties  and  opportunities,  how  much  more  guilty 
are  we  in  not  seeing  God  in  all  his  works  ?  How  much 
more  worthy  of  punishment  are  we,  if  we  turn  not  into 
their  proper  and  legitimate  channel  that  sympathy  with 
external  nature,  and  that  instinctive  admiration  of  the 
grand  and  the  beautiful,  with  which  we  are  endowed  ? 
The  question  is  not,  Do  we,  like  the  heathen  of  ancient 
or  modern  times,  believe  in  a  polytheism,  and  people, 
with  the  vain  creatures  of  our  imagination,  the  regions 
of  the  land  and  the  sea?  for  we  at  once,  unintelligibly, 
perhaps,  and,  as  it  were,  mechanically,  assent  to  the  re- 
ceived truth, — There  is  one  God  ;  and  we  also  readily 
acquiesce  in  the  grave  lessons  that  may  be  read  us  by 
some  pious  student  of  the  book  of  Nature.  But  the  in- 
quiry to  be  made  of  our  own  hearts  is,  Do  we  habitually 
see  the  Creator  in  His  works,  and  associate  His  glorious 
perfections  with  every  witnessed  specimen  of  His  skill  ? 
We  luxuriate  in  the  glowing  summer  landscape  ;  we 
there  admire  the  universal  flush  of  inanimate  nature  ;  we 
listen,  with  delight,  to  the  sweet  singing  of  birds,  and 
the  mingling  murmurs  of  winds  and  streams  :  But  do 
we  straightway  lift  up  our  eyes  to  heaven  in  adoring 
gratitude,  and  own  a  God  around  us  ?  or  do  all  our  feel- 
ings but  minister  to  a  luxurious  sensibility,  and  evaporate 
in  some  poetic  dream  ?  When  we  survey,  by  night,  the 
starry  heaven,  and  direct  our  telescope  to  those  count- 
less worlds  that  there  crowd  upon  the  vision,  are  we  lost 
in  devout  admiration  of  the  wondrous  universe  of  God  ? 
or  do  we  merely  resign  ourselves  to  those  emotions  of 
sublimity  that  such  a  magnificent  scene  is  so  well  fitted 
to  awaken  ?  We  are  too  apt  and  too  habituated  to  behold 
the  glories  of  creation,  without  looking  further.  We  are 
satisfied  with  a  vague  sentimental  feeling  of  beauty,  and 
think  not  of  that  Hand  from  which  all  beauty  flows. 
We  are  struck  with  the  endless  adaptations  of  the  mate- 
rial world,  but  we  do  not  always  raise  our  thoughts  to 


164  ON  SEEING  GOD  IN  HIS  WORKS. 

the  great  Designer.  We  analyze  and  admire  the  splen- 
did machinery  of  the  heavens,  but  we  recognise  not 
the  matchless  power  of  the  Mechanist.  We  philoso- 
phize, we  speculate,  we  declaim,  on  the  structure  of  a 
flower,  or  the  mechanism  of  a  planetary  system,  but 
only  talk  the  while  of  Nature  and  her  works,  as  if  Nature 
— a  mere  fashioned  mass  of  inert  matter — were  the  pa- 
rent of  all  things,  and  the  grand  object  of  our  worship. 

Would  we  read  the  book  of  Nature  aright,  and  see 
God  in  His  works,  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  book 
of  Revelation  ;  for  these  two  great  volumes,  written  by 
the  same  Hand,  and  for  a  similar  purpose,  cast  a  strong 
light  upon  each  other.  As  the  book  of  Nature,  by  the 
visible  impress  of  Divinity  stamped  upon  it,  is  fitted  to 
prepare  us  for  the  more  glorious  display  of  the  Divine 
perfections  contained  in  the  book  of  Revelation, — so  is 
this  latter  the  truest  and  safest  guide  to  the  profitable  pe- 
rusal of  the  former.  In  the  Bible,  the  great  productions 
and  aspects  of  nature  are  always  mentioned  in  connexion 
with  the  glory  of  God.  They  are  introduced,  often  in 
strains  of  the  boldest  poetry,  to^teach  the  infinite  power 
and  goodness  of  Jehovah.  We  there  find  the  noblest 
descriptions  of  natural  objects  ever  penned ;  and  one 
great  moral  runs  through  them  all.  Every  masterly  pic- 
ture of  the  grand  or  the  beautiful  in  nature,  is  but  a  de- 
lineation of  God's  wondrous  attributes. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  positive  duty,  sublimely  taught  us 
both  by  precept  and  example,  to  cherish  a  sense  of  the 
infinite  skill  and  bounty  displayed  in  creation.  We 
should  associate,  with  all  that  attracts  the  eye  by  its 
beauty,  or  excites  our  admiration  by  its  delicate  struc- 
ture, the  liveliest  expressions  of  adoration  and  gratitude. 
Every  survey  of  natural  scenery,  every  examination  of 
even  the  smallest  of  God's  works,  should  be  to  us  a  de- 
votional exercise.  To  a  mind  accustomed  to  consecrate 
all  its  perceptions  of  beauty  and  design  to  the  inward 
worship  of  God,  every  mountain  and  field,  every  leaf  and 
flower,  teems  with  instruction.  The  tiny  wing  of  the 
ephemeral  insect,  as  well  as  the  noblest  animal  form, 
affords  food  for  the  loftiest  admiration.  The  man  of  true 


REASON  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS.  165 

piety  and  refined  feeling,  enjoys  the  beauties  of  Nature 
with  the  keenest  relish  ;  for  Nature  is  but  a  pictured  vol- 
ume in  which  he  reads  the  character  of  the  Divinity. 
Every  object  that  meets  his  eye,  be  it  vast  or  minute, 
simple  or  complex,  suggests  exalted  conceptions  of  Him 

"  Who  gives  its  lustre  to  an  insect's  wing, 
And  wheels  His  throne  upon  the  rolling  worlds." 

All  our  feelings  and  intellectual  powers  should  be  de- 
voted to  the  glory  of  God,  their  Author  and  their  End. 
Our  purest  sympathies,  our  liveliest  sensations,  our  most 
exquisite  perceptions,  are  due  to  His  worship,  and  are 
all  originally  fitted  to  exalt  our  conception  of  His  char- 
acter. To  behold  the  wonderful  scene  in  which  we  are 
placed,  with  the  eye  of  reason,  and  with  feelings  of  ele- 
vated devotion,  is  both  our  duty  and  our  privilege. 
When  we  contemplate,  therefore,  the  heavens,  with  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,  which  God  has  ordained, — the 
earth,  with  all  its  array  of  plants  and  flowers,  and  animat- 
ed beings, — the  sea,  with  its  multitude  of  waves  and 
living  forms,  let  us  gratefully  adore  the  Almighty  Cre- 
ator, and  exclaim,  with  the  Psalmist,  ( '  O  Lord,  our  Lord, 
how  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth  !"  J.  D. 


SEVENTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

REASON  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS. 

INSTINCT,  if  the  definition  which  I  have  given  of  it  in 
my  paper  of  Saturday  be  correct,  will  not  account  for 
all  the  operations  of  the  lower  animals.  Instinct  is  uni- 
form. It  belongs  to  all  the  species  nearly  in  the  same 
degree.  The  young  possess  it  as  soon  as  they  are  pro- 
duced ;  or,  at  least,  as  soon  as  their  bodily  powers  will 
enable  them  to  employ  it,  in  as  great  perfection  as  the 
old.  It  is  not  communicated  by  instruction  ;  it  is  not 


166  REASON  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS. 

learned  by  experience.  The  young  bee,  for  instance, 
the  moment  it  leaves  the  cell  where  it  has  been  produced 
and  cradled,  cleans  its  body,  smooths  its  wings,  then 
leaves  its  hive,  and  flies,  without  a  guide  or  teacher,  to 
the  nearest  flower,  where,  using  its  feelers,  and  inserting 
its  proboscis,  it  sips  the  sweet  nectar  with  which  the 
Author  of  Nature  has,  for  its  use,  filled  so  many  vegeta- 
ble cups,  and  then  returns  to  its  native  roof,  tracing  its 
solitary  way  through  the  trackless  air,  and  deposits  the 
gleanings  of  its  industry,  to  add  to  the  hoarded  treasures 
of  the  parent  swarm.  Then,  again,  it  exudes  the  se- 
creted wax  from  the  rings  of  its  body  ;  and,  still  without 
instruction,  begins  to  form  those  wonderful  hexagonal 
cells,  the  scientific  construction  of  which  the  mathema- 
tician has  found  such  reason  to  admire.  All  this  is  in- 
stinct. 

Yet,  though  there  is  wisdom  here,  it  is  not  that  of  the 
animal,  but  of  its  Creator.  It  has  been  guided  to  these 
intelligent  works  by  a  blind  impulse.  This,  however, 
is  not  the  case  with  many  of  the  actions  of  the  inferior 
creation  ;  and,  however  difficult  it  may  be  to  draw  the 
line  between  reason  and  instinct,  I  believe  no  person  who 
has,  without  prejudice,  studied  the  character  and  habits 
of  the  living  creatures  below  him,  will  find  it  easy  to 
deny  them  at  least  some  glimpses  of  that  higher  faculty 
to  which  his  own  species  has  the  most  appropriate  claim. 
A  few  well-authenticated  instances  will  illustrate  this  re- 
mark. 

I  have  the  following  anecdote  from  a  gentleman*  of 
undoubted  veracity,  and  acute  observation,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Dumfries.  A  few  years  ago,  this  gentleman  had  beau- 
tified his  residence,  by  converting  a  morass  in  its  neigh- 
borhood into  an  extensive  piece  of  water,  which  he  had 
stocked  with  fish  ;  and,  as  places  of  retreat  for  these 
tenants  of  his  lake,  he  had  caused  numerous  roots  of  trees 
to  be  thrown  in  here  and  there,  which  were  usually  hid 
below  the  surface.  In  the  year  1836,  however,  the  un- 
usually dry  spring  caused  the  necessary  supply  of  water 
unexpectedly  to  fail,  and  the  pond  sank  so  low,  that  some 

*  James  Lennox,  Esq.  of  Dalscairth. 


REASON  IN  THE   LOWER  ANIMALS.  167 

of  the  roots  made  their  appearance,  and  on  one  of  these, 
more  elevated  than  the  others,  a  pair  of  wild  ducks  con- 
structed their  inartificial  nest ;  and  the  female  had  already 
laid  some  eggs,  when  the  weather  changed,  and  the  de- 
scending rains  having  filled  the  streams  by  which  the  lake 
was  fed,  the  surface  gradually  rose,  and  threatened  to 
overwhelm  the  labors  of  this  luckless  pair,  and  to  send 
their  eggs  adrift  upon  the  waves.  Here  instinct  had  no 
resource.  It  was  an  unexpected  occurrence,  for  which 
this  faculty  could  not  provide  ;  but  if  any  glimmerings 
of  reason  belonged  to  these  fond  parents,  it  might  be  ex- 
pected to  be  exerted.  And  so  it  was.  Both  the  duck 
and  the  drake  were  observed  to  be  busily  employed  in 
collecting  and  depositing  materials  ;  presently  the  nest, 
which  the  rising  waters  had  already  reached,  was  seen  to 
emerge  as  it  were  from  the  flood  ;  more  and  more  straw 
and  grass  were  added,  till  several  inches  of  new  eleva- 
tion was  gained,  and  the  nest,  wTith  its  precious  contents, 
appeared  to  be  secure.  Here  the  mother  patiently 
brooded  her  full  time  ;  and  one  duckling  rewarded  her 
care  ;  when,  just  as  it  had  escaped  from  the  shell,  an- 
other torrent  of  rain  fell,  more  sudden  and  more  violent 
than  the  first ;  the  water  rose  higher  and  higher  ;  the 
nest,  and  remaining  eggs,  were  swept  away.  In  this 
emergency,  the  whole  attention  of  the  parents  was  given 
to  the  living  progeny,  which  was  safely  conveyed  by 
them  to  the  shore,  where  another  nest  was  constructed  ; 
and  thus  their  sagacity  and  solicitude  were  finally  crown- 
ed with  success. 

An  example,  it  should  seem,  of  a  still  higher  order  of 
intelligence,  is  recorded  by  Mr.  Jesse,  in  his  '  Glean- 
ings in  Natural  History,'  which  came  under  his  own  ob- 
servation. u  I  wras  one  day,"  says  he,  u  feeding  the 
poor  elephant  (who  was  so  barbarously  put  to  death  at 
Exeter  Change)  with  potatoes,  which  he  took  out  of  my 
hand.  One  of  them,  a  round  one,  fell  on  the  floor,  just 
out  of  the  reach  of  his  proboscis.  He  leaned  against 
his  wooden  bar,  put  out  his  trunk,  and  could  just  touch 
the  potato,  but  could  not  pick  it  up.  After  several  in- 
effectual efforts,  he  at  last  blew  the  potato  against  the 


168       REASON  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS. 

opposite  wall  with  sufficient  force  to  make  it  rebound  ; 
and  he  then,  without  difficulty,  secured  it."  If  we  can 
believe  that  this  extraordinary  action  was  any  thing  but 
an  ebullition  of  anger  which  led  him  to  puff  away  the 
root  which  he  could  not  secure, — that  this  half-reasoning 
animal,  as  the  elephant  has  been  called,  really  intended 
the  potato  to  rebound  within  his  reach,  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  the  justice  of  Mr.  Jesse's  conclusion,  that  it 
could  not  be  instinct  which  taught  him  to  procure  his  food 
in  this  manner  ;  and  that  it  must,  therefore,  have  been 
reason  which  "  enabled  him  to  be  so  good  a  judge  of 
cause  and  effect." 

In  some  of  the  insect  tribes,  there  seems  to  be  an  ex- 
traordinary faculty,  which,  if  it  can  be  called  instinct, 
surely  approaches  to  the  highest  faculty  possessed  by 
man, — I  mean  the  power  of  communicating  information 
by  some  natural  language.  Huber  affirms,  u  that  Nature 
has  given  to  ants  a  language  of  communication,  by  the 
contact  of  their  antennae  ;  and  that,  with  these  organs, 
they  are  enabled  to  render  mutual  assistance  in  their  la- 
bors and  in  their  dangers,  discover  again  their  route  when 
they  have  lost  it,  and  make  each  other  acquainted  with 
their  necessities."  This  power  seems  to  be  confirmed 
by  what  occurred  to  Dr.  Franklin.  Upon  discovering 
a  number  of  ants  regaling  themselves  with  some  treacle 
in  one  of  his  cupboards,  he  put  them  to  the  rout,  and 
then  suspended  the  pot  of  treacle  by  a  string  from  the 
ceiling.  He  imagined  that  he  had  put  the  whole  army  to 
flight,  but  was  surprised  to  see  a  single  ant  quit  the  pot, 
climb  up  the  string,  cross  the  ceiling,  and  regain  its  nest. 
In  less  than  half  an  hour,  several  of  its  companions  sal- 
lied forth,  traversed  the  ceiling,  and  reached  the  reposi- 
tory, which  they  constantly  revisited,  till  the  treacle  was 
consumed.  The  same  power  of  communication  belongs 
also  to  bees  and  wasps  ;  as  may  be  proved  by  any  one 
who  carefully  attends  to  their  habits.  This  is  their  lan- 
guage, not  of  articulate  sounds,  indeed,  but  of  signs, — 
a  language  which,  as  Jesse  observes,  "  we  can  have  no 
doubt  is  perfectly  suited  to  them,  adding,  we  know  not 
how  much,  to  their  happiness  and  enjoyments,  and  fur- 


REASON  IN  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS.  169 

nishing  another  proof  that  there  is  a  God  all-mighty,-  all- 
wise,  and  all-good,  who  has  'ornamented  the  universe' 
with  so  many  objects  of  delightful  contemplation,  that  we 
may  see  Him  in  all  his  works,  and  learn,  not  only  to  fear 
Him  for  his  power,  but  to  love  Him  for  the  care  which 
He  takes  of  us,  and  of  all  his  created  beings."  Wheth- 
er this  power  of  communication  be  rational  or  instinctive, 
it  is  obviously  only  suited  to  be  useful  to  a  being  pos- 
sessed, at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  of  intellectual  facul- 
ties,— of  the  power  of  forming  designs, — of  combining, 
with  others,  to  execute  them, — of  accommodating  itself 
to  circumstances,  and,  therefore,  of  remembering,  of  com- 
paring, of  judging,  and  of  resolving.  These  are  assuredly 
acts  of  reasoning  ;  at  least,  I  know  not  under  what  other 
category  to  arrange  them. 

The  instance  which  Dr.  Darwin  gives  of  a  wasp,  no- 
ticed by  himself,  is  in  point.  As  he  was  walking  one 
day  in  his  garden,  he  perceived  a  wasp  upon  the  gravel 
walk,  with  a  large  fly,  nearly  as  big  as  itself,  which  it 
had  caught.  Kneeling  down,  he  distinctly  saw  it  cut  off 
the  head  and  abdomen,  and  then,  taking  up  with  its  feet 
the  trunk  or  middle  portion  of  the  body,  to  which  the 
wings  remained  attached,  fly  away  ;  but  a  breeze  of  wind, 
acting  on  the  wings  of  the  fly,  turned  round  the  wasp, 
with  its  burden,  and  impeded  its  progress.  Upon  this, 
it  alighted  again  on  the  gravel  walk,  deliberately  sawed 
off,  first  one  wing,  and  then  another  >  and  having  thus  re- 
moved the  cause  of  its  embarrassment,  flew  off  with  its 
booty. 

Here  we  have  contrivance,  and  recontrivance  ;  a  res- 
olution accommodated  to  the  case,  judiciously  formed 
and  executed  ;  and,  on  the  discovery  of  a  new  impedi- 
ment, a  new  plan  adopted,  by  which  final  success  was 
obtained.  There  is,  undoubtedly,  something  more  than 
instinct  in  all  this.  And  yet  we  call  the  wasp  a  despica- 
ble and  hateful  insect  ! 

There  is,  I  am  well  aware,  a  great  reluctance  in  some 

minds  to   admit  that  any  of  the  lower  animals  can  be 

gifted  with  a  faculty  superior  to  blind  unreasoning  in- 

tinct.     It  is  imagined  that  this  would  be  to  confound, 

i.  15  vn. 


170  HYBERNATION  OF   INSECTS. 

man  with  the  brutes,  and  thus  to  deprive  him  of  that 
distinctive  superiority  on  which  he  founds  his  strongest 
argument  for  the  immortality  of  the  human  soul.  Of 
such  a  consequence,  I  have  no  fear.  It  is  not  on  natural 
arguments  that  the  Christian's  hope  of  future  happiness 
is  chiefly  founded,  but  on  that  gospel,  which  has  u  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light."  Yet,  I  freely  admit, 
that  the  argument  from  natural  religion  is  satisfactory  as 
a  proof  of  the  coincidence  of  revelation  with  the  rational 
expectations,  and  the  analogical  reasonings,  of  man.  But 
these  expectations  and  reasonings  are  founded  on  stronger 
grounds  than  that  of  the  absence  of  every  thing  approach- 
ing to  reason  among  the  lower  animals,  otherwise,  I 
fear,  they  could  not  be  readily  sustained.  Whatever 
may  be  their  strength,  however,  it  is  delightful  to  know 
that  our  assurance  comes  from  a  higher  source,  and  that 
we  are  not  reduced,  like  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
and  virtuous  of  heathens,  to  end  all  our  anxious  argu- 
ments on  this  most  important  subject,  with  the  feeble  and 
doubting  conclusion,  u  Qworf,  si  in  hoc  erro,  libenter 
*  ["  If  in  this  I  am  in  error,  I  am  content  to  err."] 


SEVENTH    WEEK— TUESDAY. 

HIBERNATION  OP  INSECTS. EGGS. 

IN  attending  to  the  state  of  animated  nature  in  winter, 
as  compared  with  that  of  summer,  few  things  are  more 
striking  than  the  almost  total  disappearance,  during  the 
former  season,  of  all  the  insect  tribes.  In  the  warmth 
and  sunshine  of  the  summer  months,  all  Nature  was 
instinct  with  life  ;  and  the  abundance  and  variety  of  the 
more  minute  animals  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  obser- 
vation, and  excite  the  wonder,  of  all  who  have  eyes  to 
see.  The  bee,  the  dragon-fly,  the  butterfly,  the  gnat, 

*  Cicero. 


EGGS.  171 

and  the  midge,  in  all  their  varieties,  with  myriads  of  flies 
of  other  species,  seemed  to  communicate  life  and  enjoy- 
ment to  the  very  air  we  breathed  ;  while  the  worm,  the 
beetle,  the  ant,  the  caterpillar,  the  spider,  and  innumerable 
other  creatures,  some  of  them  too  minute  to  be  examined 
without  the  assistance  of  art,  swarmed  on  every  flower 
we  plucked,  and  animated  the  very  dust  beneath  our 
feet.  Where  now  is  all  this  busy  world  ?  Tribe  after 
tribe,  they  have  vanished  from  our  view;  and  even  in 
days  of  balmiest  air,  and  brightest  sunshine,  we  seek  for 
them  in  vain.  Has  the  breath  of  winter  pierced  through 
their  tiny  forms,  and  frozen  the  current  of  life  at  its  source  ? 
And,  if  so,  by  what  process  of  reproduction  shall  all 
their  various  species  be  reanimated  in  the  returning 
spring  ?  The  inquiry  is  at  once  interesting  and  useful  ; 
and  here,  again,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  admire  the  in- 
exhaustible resources  of  Divine  intelligence. 

Of  some  insect  families,  it  is  known,  that  all  the 
individuals  are  destined  to  perish  before  the  cold  of  win- 
ter arrives.  The  natural  term  of  their  existence  is  com- 
prised within  the  span  of  a  few  months  ;  and  their  periods 
of  youth,  of  vigor,  and  of  decay,  nay,  of  resuscitation 
under  new  forms,  and  of  the  various  stages  of  their  sec- 
ond or  even  third  state  of  existence,  have  all  been  accom- 
plished during  the  season  of  genial  warmth  ;  so  that  they 
naturally  cease  to  exist  before  the  heat  which  cherished 
them,  and  the  food  which  sustained  them,  are  withdrawn. 
Their  modes  of  life  will  more  properly  form  the  sub- 
ject of  attention  at  another  season  ;  but  at  present  we 
have  to  inquire  into  the  provision  of  Providence,  by 
which  the  various  species  are  preserved  after  the  whole 
race  has  ceased  to  live. 

As  the  principle  of  equivocal  generation  is  nearly  ex- 
ploded from  natural  history,  it  will  readily  be  conjec- 
tured that  the  Creator  must  have  provided  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  future  generations  of  these  animals  by 
means  of  their  eggs  ;  and  this,  in  reality,  is  the  case. 
There  are  various  conditions,  however,  that  require  to 
be  fulfilled,  before  this  could  be  successfully  accomplished. 
Not  to  advert,  at  present,  to  the  wonderful  but  familiar 


172  HYBERNATION  OF   INSECTS. 

contrivance  of  an  egg  containing  the  embryo  of  the  fu- 
ture animal,  a  contrivance  which  shall  afterwards  be 
considered,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, the  egg  must  be  endifed  with  the  quality  of 
preserving  its  principle  of  vitality  for  several  months,  in 
circumstances  which  would  have  proved  fatal  to  the  ani- 
mal itself ;  that  it  must  only  produce  the  living  creature 
when  the  wintry  storms  are  past,  and  when  those  vege- 
table substances  have  begun  to  appear,  on  which  that 
creature  can  subsist  ;  and,  that  it  must  be  so  situated, 
and  so  endowed,  as  to  be  able,  when  animated,  to  find 
its  way  to  the  open  air,  and  to  its  natural  food.  If  any  one 
of  these  conditions  were  wanting,  it  is  sufficiently  appa- 
rent that  the  species  must  perish. 

Now,  let  us  take  an  instance,  and  see  what  actually 
occurs.  I  select  the  case  of  the  gipsy-moth,  which  I 
abridge  from  the  article  Insect  Transformations,  in  the 
'  Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge.'  The  female  of 
this  insect  has  her  body  thickly  covered  with  a  soft  down, 
of  a  hair-brown  color,  apparently  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  enabling  her  to  protect  her  eggs  during  winter  ; 
and  she  follows  the  impulse  of  her  nature,  in  a  manner 
well  worthy  of  notice.  Having  emerged  from  her  pupa- 
case  in  the  month  of  August,  she  enjoys  life  for  a  few 
days,  and  then  prepares  for  the  continuation  of  her  species, 
after  which  she  quickly  dies.  She  places  herself  on  the 
trunk  of  an  oak  or  elm,  invariably  with  her  head  down- 
wards. Having  made  a  bed  or  nest  of  down,  by  tearing 
it  from  her  body,  she  lays  an  egg  in  it  ;  and  this  egg 
being  covered  with  adhesive  gluten,  attaches  around  it 
all  the  hairs  of  the  down  with  which  it  comes  in  contact, 
and  also  sticks  to  the  bark  of  the  tree,  from  its  being 
pushed  home.  Proceeding  in  this  manner,  she  continues 
for  several  hours  adding  to  the  mass  ;  but  she  does  not, 
in  general,  finish  the  operation  in  less  than  two  days,  in- 
dulging in  occasional  rests.  At  intervals,  she  takes  care 
to  protect  the  eggs  placed  in  the  heap,  which  is  made  in 
a  conical  shape,  with  an  exterior  covering  of  the  same 
down  :  and,  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  in  the  ex- 
ternal coping,  which  is  designed  to  keep  Out  the  winter 


EGGS.  173 

rains,  the  hairs  are  carefully  placed  in  a  sloping  direc- 
tion, like  the  tiles  on  a  house,  or  the  nap  of  a  well-brushed 
hat,  pointing  downwards,  towards  the  base  of  the  cone. 
The  eggs,  which  are  deposited  with  so  much  care,  are 
destined  to  abide  all  the  pitiless  pelting  of  the  storms  of 
winter  ;  for,  although  they  are  laid  in  the  beginning  of 
harvest,  they  are  not  hatched  till  the  elm,  which  is  to 
furnish  food  to  the  future  caterpillar,  comes  into  leaf  in 
the  following  spring.  This  covering  of  down,  from  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  tiled  and  brushed  smooth  by  the 
mother  moth,  not  only  protects  them  from  wet,  but,  be- 
ing one  of  the  best  non-conductors,  keeps  them  safe  from 
the  injury  which  they  might  sustain  from  severe  cold,  or, 
what  might  be  more  fatal,  from  sudden  alternations  of 
heat  and  cold. 

In  the  instance  now  detailed,  there  are  some  things 
worthy  of  particular  notice  ;  and,  as  it  is  a  fair  specimen 
of  the  wonderful  instincts  of  insects  with  reference  to  the 
preservation  of  the  species  during  winter,  it  may  be  prop- 
er to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject.  Let  it  be 
observed,  first,  that  in  the  previous  states  of  the  insect, 
whether  as  a  caterpillar  or  a  chrysalis,  it  had  no  power 
of  continuing  its  species.  It  is  not  till  its  last  and  most 
perfect  stage  that  this  faculty  is  bestowed  ;  and  it  enters 
on  that  stage  just  in  time  to  flutter  awhile  in  the  sunshine, 
and  then  to  die  before  the  cold  of  the  waning  year  inter- 
rupts its  enjoyments,  withers  the  vegetables  on  which  it 
feeds,  and  chills  its  delicate  frame  ;  and  in  time,  too,  to 
lay  its  eggs,  that  they  may  weather  the  coming  storms  of 
winter,  which  the  parent  could  not  endure,  and  be  hatched 
when  the  breezes  of  spring  begin  to  breathe  softly,  and 
Nature  again  proceeds  to  scatter  her  stores  of  food.  It 
cannot  be  here  said,  either  that  the  insect  dies  from  the 
inclemency  of  the  season,  or  that  the  hatching  of  the  eggs 
is  retarded  by  the  deficiency  of  warmth  ;  for  the  season 
is  still  genial,  when  the  former,  having  fulfilled  the  inten- 
tions of  Nature,  ceases  to  exist,  and  months  of  weather 
not  inferior  to  the  heat  of  spring,  succeed  the  depositing 
of  the  latter.  It  is  no  other  than  a  wise  Providential 
arrangement. 


174  HYBERNATION  OF  INSECTS. 

Another  surprising  feature  of  the  instinct  displayed  by 
this  moth,  (which,  however,  so  far  from  being  peculiar  to 
the  species,  is  only  an  instance  of  the  general  faculty  af- 
fecting almost  the  whole  insect  creation,)  is  the  choice 
of  the  spot  where  she  deposits  her  eggs.  These  eggs, 
when  hatched,  are  destined  to  produce  caterpillars,  whose 
peculiar  food  is  to  be  found  in  the  leaves  of  the  oak  or 
elm.  From  all  the  trees  of  the  forest,  she,  therefore, 
selects  one  or  other  of  these  as  the  place  for  depositing 
her  precious  gift  to  a  future  year,  although  it  is  not  from 
them  that  her  own  means  of  subsistence  are  to  be  gath- 
ered ;  and  although,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge,  there 
is  nothing  in  her  condition,  as  a  moth,  which  could  lead 
to  the  preference. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  remarkable  manner 
in  which  the  gipsy-moth  protects  her  eggs  from  the 
weather  ;  but  it  may  be  proper  to  make  an  observation  or 
two  on  the  eggs,  themselves,  applicable  generally  to  all 
insect  eggs,  which  are  exposed  to  the  storms  of  winter. 
The  glutinous  matter  by  which  the  eggs  are  united, 
when  protruded  from  the  insect,  and  which  is  so  neces- 
sary for  preserving  them  in  a  mass,  and  for  fixing  them 
to  the  spot,  is  found,  contrary  to  the  nature  of  many 
similar  substances,  to  be  insoluble  in  water,  and  therefore 
incapable  of  being  affected  by  the  copious  rains  to  which 
they  are  destined  to  be  exposed.  But  this  is  not  so 
remarkable  as  another  fact,  which  has  been  proved  by 
some  severe  tests,  and  which  shows  how  admirably  the 
constitution  of  these  eggs  is  adapted  to  the  season  of 
winter.  Both  Spallanzani  and  Hunter  made  experi- 
ments to  ascertain  the  degree  of  cold  which  the  eggs  of 
insects  were  capable  of  enduring  without  injury  ;  and 
we  subjoin  the  statement  of  the  latter.  u  I  have  ex- 
posed eggs  to  a  more  rigorous  trial  than  the  winter  of 
1709.*  Those  of  several  insects,  and,  among  others,  the 
silkworm,  moth,  and  elm-butterfly,  were  enclosed  in  a 
glass  vessel,  and  buried  five  hours  in  a  mixture  of  ice 

*  The  year  1709  is  celebrated  for  its  rigor,  and  its  fatal  effects  on 
plants  and  animals.  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  fell  to  one  degree  below 
zero,  and  yet  the  insects  were  as  numerous  in  spring  as  ever. 


EGGS.  175 

and  sal-gemmae,  (rock salt.)  The  thermometer  fell  six  de- 
grees below  zero.  In  the  middle  of  the  following  spring, 
however,  caterpillars  came  from  all  the  eggs,  and  at  the 
same  time  as  from  those  which  had  suffered  no  cold.  In 
the  following  year,  I  submitted  them  to  an  experiment 
still  more  hazardous.  A  mixture  of  ice  and  sal  gem. 
with  the  fuming  spirit  of  nitre,  (nitrate  of  ammonia,)  re- 
duced the  thermometer  twenty-two  degrees  below  zero, 
—that  is,  twenty-one  degrees  lower  than  the  cold  of  1709. 
They  were  not  injured,  as  I  had  evident  proof,  by 
their  being  hatched." 

It  is,  indeed,  a  singular  and  unaccountable  fact,  that 
the  eggs  of  these  insects  are  incapable  of  being  frozen 
even  by  the  intense  cold  now  mentioned.  Spallanzani 
discovered  this,  by  crushing  some  of  them  with  the  nail, 
when  he  found  that  their  contents  remained  fluid ;  and 
he  justly  infers,  that  the  included  embryos  remain 
equally  unfrozen.  The  final  cause  of  this  is  easily  un- 
derstood ;  but  the  chemical  property  which  resists  so 
severe  a  trial,  has  not  been  ascertained. 

The  modes  by  which  instinct  has  taught  •  insects  to 
preserve  their  eggs  during  winter,  are  very  various.  One 
of  these  I  have  already  detailed ;  but,  before  leaving  the 
subject,  there  is  another,  which,  on  account  of  its  singu- 
larity, I  cannot  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  mentioning  ; 
I  allude  to  the  cochineal  insects,  (Coca'dce,)  so  called 
from  one  of  the  species  furnishing  the  wellknown  valua- 
ble dye-stuff.  These  little  insects  contrive  to  render 
their  dead  bodies  useful  to  their  future  progeny,  by  pro- 
tecting their  eggs  from  the  severity  of  the  weather. 
They  die  in  the  act  of  incubation.  Their  eggs  are  de- 
posited under  their  bodies,  which  become  glued  to  the 
spot,  and  thus  serve  as  a  covering.  In  this  state,  the 
dead  insects  appear  on  the  bark  of  trees,  like  small  warts, 
of  various  forms.  The  mother  is  seldom  larger  than  a 
peppercorn,  yet  the  number  of  eggs  which  she  lays 
amounts  to  several  thousands.  Some  of  them  secrete  a 
sort  of  white  silky  gum,  very  like  gossamer,  as  the  first 
bed  of  their  eggs.  Some  naturalists  have  supposed  this 
substance  to  be  of  the  nature  of  the  spider's  web ;  but 


176  HYBERNATION   OF  INSECTS. 

the  author  of  'Insect  Transformations'  says  he  has  as- 
certained it  to  be  "  precisely  similar  to  the  gluten  which 
envelopes  the  eggs  of  most  insects." 


SEVENTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

HYBERNATION  OF  INSECTS. VARIOUS    STATES. 

TURNING  from  the  consideration  of  insect  eggs,  let  us 
look  to  some  of  the  other  means  which  the  Creator  has 
employed  for  preserving  these  minute  animals  during  the 
rigorous  season  of  the  year.  Some  assume  the  chrysalis 
form,  in  which  state  they  require  no  food,  and  can  endure 
a  greater  degree  of  cold  than  in  their  more  perfect  con- 
dition, though  they  are  much  inferior,  in  this  respect,  to 
the  eggs  already  mentioned.  We  shall  take  an  example 
of  this  method  of  hybernation  from  the  butterfly  family, 
which  is  remarkable  for  the  variety  of  modes  by  which 
the  Author  of  Nature  has  provided  for  the  safety  of  the 
different  species.  The  history  of  the  large  white  butter- 
fly, which  we  select,  is  not  perhaps  so  peculiar,  among 
the  insect  tribes,  as  it  is  remarkable.  It  undergoes  a 
double  round  of  transformations  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
and  its  instincts  are  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  state  of 
the  season  in  each.  From  the  chrysalis  state,  these  in- 
sects assume  that  of  caterpillars,  about  the  last  days  of 
April,  or  the  beginning  of  the  following  month.  They 
first  appear  on  wing  in  the  middle  of  May,  and,  about  the 
end  of  the  same  month,  lay  their  eggs  in  clusters  on  the 
under  side  of  cabbage-leaves.  In  a  few  days  after,  the 
caterpillars  come  forth,  and  continue  to  feed  together  till 
the  end  of  June,  when  they  are  at  their  full  growth.  They 
then  wander  about  in  search  of  convenient  places  to  fix 
themselves,  where,  after  their  change,  the  chrysalis  may 
be  sheltered.  When  such  are  found,  they  each  fasten 
their  tail  by  a  web,  and  carry  a  strong  thread  of  the  same 


VARIOUS   STATES.  177 

round  their  body,  near  the  head  ;  and,  thus  firmly  se- 
cured, hang  a  few  hours,  when  the  chrysalis  becomes 
perfectly  formed,  and  divested  of  the  caterpillar's  skin. 
In  fourteen  days  after  this,  the  fly  is  on  the  wing.*  Such 
is  the  history  of  their  first  series  of  transformations.  But 
a  long  period  of  genial  weather  still  remains,  and  a  new 
succession  of  changes  takes  place.  The  butterfly  lays 
its  eggs,  which  are  again  converted  into  caterpillars,  and 
about  the  end  of  September,  these  caterpillars  become 
chrysalides,  in  which  state  they  are  prepared  to  pass  the 
winter.  Now,  however,  as  if  acquainted  with  the  change 
which  Nature  is  about  to  undergo,  they  do  not  seek  for 
protection  beneath  the  fading  vegetation  which  formed 
their  previous  retreat,  but  may  be  found  hanging  under 
the  copings  of  garden  walls,  under  pales,  and  in  other 
places,  where  they  can  have  a  tolerable  shelter  from  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather,  and  yet  be  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  their  food,  when  they  throw  off  this  state  of  in- 
activity on  the  revival  of  Nature  in  spring. 

An  instance  of  the  hybernation  of  insects,  in  the  cater- 
pillar state,  may  be  found  in  another  branch  of  this  family, 
that  of  the  marsh  fritillary.  These  small  butterflies,  the 
color  of  which  is  a  brownish  orange,  variegated  with 
orange  and  black,  are  found  in  the  caterpillar  state  in  the 
month  of  September.  As  the  season  advances,  they  spin 
for  themselves  a  fine  web,  in  which  they  congregate,  and 
under  covert  of  which  they  pass  the  winter.  During  this 
time,  they  are  so  nearly  reduced  to  a  torpid  state,  as  to 
require  no  food  ;  nor  do  they  venture  out  of  their  cover- 
ing, till  invited  by  the  warmth  of  spring.  They  have 
not  yet  come  to  their  full  size,  and  their  growth  is  sus- 
pended during  winter.  If  we  pursue  their  history  a  little 
further,  we  find  that,  about  the  end  of  April,  they  are  in 
full  maturity,  and,  suspending  themselves  by  the  tail, 
change  into  chrysalides.  "  Their  mode  of  suspension," 
says  Captain  Brown,  "is  a  singular  instance  of  the  ex- 
traordinary power  of  instinct.  They  first  draw  two  or 
three  small  blades  of  grass  across  towards  the  top,  and 

*  Goldsmith's  Animated  Nature,  Note,  vol.  iv.  p.  297. 


178  HYBERNATION  OF  INSECTS. 

fasten  them  together  by  means  of  their  silk,  then  hang 
themselves  beneath  the  centre  of  these,  each  having  his 
own  little  canopy.  By  this  means,  they  are  not  only 
hidden  from  the  sight  of  birds,  but  defended,  in  a  great 
measure,  from  the  damage  they  might  otherwise  sustain 
from  windy  and  boisterous  weather."* 

In  speaking  of  the  hybernation  of  caterpillars,  we  must 
not  forget  to  mention  a  beneficent  provision  by  which 
many  species  are  defended  from  the  cold  ;  we  allude  to 
the  hair  which  at  that  season  covers  their  bodies.  The 
younger  Huber  found  some  larvae  of  the  smaller  species 
of  ants,  which  spend  the  winter-heaped  up  in  the  lower- 
most floor  of  their  dwelling  ;  and  he  remarks,  that  "  those 
which  are  to  pass  the  winter  in  this  state,  are  covered 
with  hair,  which  is  not  the  case  in  summer.,  affording 
another  proof  of  that  Providence  with  which  naturalists 
are  struck  at  every  step."  Now,  the  very  same  thing 
occurs  among  various  tribes  of  caterpillars,  though  it  is 
by  no  means  the  case  with  all  insects  that  pass  the  winter 
in  this  form.  Even  those  which  envelope  themselves  in 
silken  shrouds,  have  generally  this  additional  protection, 
of  which  the  caterpillars  of  the  brown-tail  moth  and  mal- 
low butterfly  are  instances.  Some  are  thickly  clothed 
with  hair,  a  remarkable  example  of  which  occurs  in  the 
caterpillar  of  the  drinker  moth,  whose  very  feet  are  cov- 
ered with  fine  shaggy  down.  This  insect  does  not  be- 
come torpid  in  winter  ;  and,  as  it  feeds  on  grass,  it  can 
always  find  plenty  of  food.  c<  When  a  fine  sunny  day 
chances  to  break  in  upon  the  gloom  of  winter,  this  pretty 
insect  may  be  often  seen  stretched  at  its  full  length  on  a 
low  twig,  or  the  withered  stem  of  a  nettle,  basking  in  the 
sunshine  with  apparent  delight,  "f 

Some  insects  survive  the  winter  in  their  perfect  state, 
but  these  are  comparatively  few.  Several  species  of  the 
genus  Vanessa  are  of  this  number  ;  but  it  is  observed  by 
Mr.  Rennie,  that  this  can  only  be  positively  affirmed  of 
the  female.  It  is  certain,  however,  that,  even  in  this 

*  Goldsmith's  Animated  Nature,  Note,  p.  298.     [Both  the  species 
mentioned  are  European. — AM.  ED.] 
t  Insect  Transformations,  p.  193. 


VARIOUS    STATES.  179 

state,  insects  will  bear  an  almost  incredible  degree  of 
cold  with  impunity.  We  extract  two  instances  recorded 
in  the  publication  of  Mr.  Rennie,  on  Insect  Transforma- 
tions, already  alluded  to.*  "  In  Newfoundland,  Captain 
Buchan  saw  a  lake,  which,  in  the  evening,  was  entirely 
still  and  frozen  over  ;  but,  as  soon  as  the  sun  had  dis- 
solved the  ice  in  the  morning,  it  was  all  in  a  bustle  of 
animation,  in  consequence,  as  was  discovered,  of  myriads 
of  flies  let  loose,  while  many  still  remain  infixed  and 
frozen  round."  A  still  more  striking  instance  is  men- 
tioned by  Ellis,  in  which  "  a  large  black  mass,  like  coal 
or  peat  upon  the  hearth,  dissolved,  when  thrown  upon 
the  fire,  into  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes  (Culicidce.)" 

One  other  remarkable  instance  I  shall  mention,  not 
only  because  it  relates  to  another  form  of  the  hybernating 
principle,  but  also  because  it  throws  light  upon  a  passage 
of  Scripture,  which  naturalists  were  inclined  to  consider 
as  founded  on  mistake.  The  passage  is  from  the  Prov- 
erbs of  Solomon, — "  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard  ;  con- 
sider her  ways,  and  be  wise  ;  which  having  no  guide, 
overseer,  nor  ruler,  provideth  her  meat  in  the  summer, 
and  gathereth  her  food  in  the  harvest."!  It  has  been  al- 
leged, that  the  ant  has  no  such  instinct ;  that  indeed  if 
she  had,  it  would  be  altogether  useless  to  her,  as,  in  win- 
ter, she  falls  into  a  state  of  torpidity  ;  and  that  Solomon 
must,  therefore,  have  mistaken  for  her  winter  store,  the 
larvae  of  this  insect,  which  she  tends  with  much  assidui- 
ty, and  which  are  found  carefully  deposited  in  her  nest. 
But  it  is  gratifying  to  the  pious  mind  to  observe  in  how 
many  instances,  the  discoveries  of  science  throw  light 
on  the  difficult  passages  of  Scripture  ;  and  prove  the 
accuracy  of  its  statements,  even  in  matters  of  natural 
history,  which  it  incidentally  notices.  Of  these  instan- 
ces, this  is  one.  It  is  true  that,  in  climates  such  as  that 
of  Europe,  where  the  cold  of  winter  is  intense,  the  ant 
does  fall  into  a  state  of  torpidity  ;  and,  as  if  she  antici- 
pated this  state,  she  makes  no  provision  for  the  severity 
of  winter.  But  it  is  different,  at  least  with  one  species 

*  Insect  Transformations,  p.  406.  t  Proverbs  vi.  6. 


180  HYBERNATION  OF  INSECTS. 

of  ant,  in  India,  named  by  Mr.  Hope  the  Provision  Ant, 
as  is  stated  by  Mr.  Kirby,  on  the  authority  of  Colonel 
Sykes.  "  These  ants,"  says  Mr.  Kirby,  "after  long- 
continued  rains,  during  the  monsoon,  were  found  to  bring 
up,  and  lay  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  on  a  fine  day, 
their  stores  of  grass-seeds,  and  grains  of  Guinea-corn, 
for  the  purpose  of  drying  them.  Many  scores  of  these 
hoards  were  frequently  observable  on  the  extensive  pa- 
rade at  Poona.  This  account,"  he  adds,  "  clearly  proves 
that,  where  the  climate,  and  their  circumstances,  require 
it,  these  industrious  creatures  do  store  up  provisions." 
The  strong  propensity  of  the  ant,  thus  attested,  serves 
to  indicate  the  accuracy  of  Solomon's  information  ;  and, 
after  this  discovery,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  that,  though 
the  naturalist,  who  is  too  little  acquainted  with  the  ani- 
mals of  the  Holy  Land,  has  not  yet  ascertained  the  fact 
by  actual  observation,  these  insects  do,  in  that  country, 
follow  a  similar  instinct,  during  its  mild  winter. 

The  immense  variety  of  the  insect  tribes,  and  the  in- 
exhaustible resources  of  the  Author  of  Nature  in  accom- 
modating their  instincts  and  functions  to  their  peculiar 
circumstances  and  condition,  precludes  the  possibility  of 
comprising  any  thing  like  a  particular  detail  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  various  tribes  are  enabled  to  pass  the  winter 
months,  within  the  bounds  we  have  prescribed  to  ourselves. 
The  above  sketch  will  suffice  to  afford  some  insight  into 
these  wonderful  and  diversified  provisions,  and  to  direct  the 
reader  to  inquiries  which  will  amply  repay  his  industry, 
and  which  he  will  find  grow  upon  him  at  every  step. 
Some  observations  on  the  Cybernation  of  the  honey-bee, 
the  snail,  and  the  beetle,  which  will  be  found  in  subsequent 
papers,  must  close  my  observations  on  this  part  of  the 
history  of  insects.  Their  still  more  astonishing  faculties 
and  modes  of  existence,  in  the  other  seasons  of  the  year, 
shall  be  considered  afterwards. 


HYBERNATION  OF  BEES.  181 


SEVENTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

HYBERNATION  OF  BEES. 

AMONG  insects,  there  is  none  more  commonly  known, 
or  more  universally  admired  for  its  extraordinary  instincts, 
than  the  honey-bee.  Of  these  instincts,  such  as  are  in- 
tended for  its  preservation  during  winter,  come  particu- 
larly under  our  notice  at  present ;  but  it  may  be  proper 
to  premise  a  few  words  as  to  the  general  state  and  econ- 
omy of  this  wonderful  insect.  The  inhabitants  of  a  hive 
have  been  usually  divided  into  three  distinct  classes,  viz. 
the  queen,  the  drones,  and  the  workers  ;  but  it  has  been 
recently  discovered  that  there  is  yet  another  distinct 
class,  or,  at  least,  that  the  working-bees  may  be  divided 
into  two  separate  tribes  or  castes,  called  Nurse-bees  and 
Wax-workers.  This  last  distinction,  which  is  not  gen- 
erally known,  was  ascertained  by  M .  Huber,  and  is  too 
curious  to  be  passed  over,  especially  as  it  is  on  the  wax- 
workers  that  the  provision  of  winter  food  entirely  de- 
volves. The  business  of  the  nurse-bees,  which  are 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  wax-workers,  is  to  collect 
honey  for  the  immediate  subsistence  of  those  which  do 
not  leave  the  hive,  as  well  as  of  the  young  grubs,  of 
which  latter  they  seem  to  have  the  special  charge  ;  and 
also  to  give  the  finishing  touches  to  the  cells  and  combs 
left  imperfect  by  the  others.  The  duty  of  the  wax- 
workers,  on  the  other  hand,  is  to  provide  cells,  in  which 
the  queen  may  deposit  her  eggs,  and  reservoirs,  in  which 
they  may  store  the  honey  for  future  use  ;  and  it  has  been 
found,  by  accurate  observation,  that  the  one  caste  does 
not  interfere  with  the  functions  of  the  other.  The  queen 
is  the  absolute  monarch  of  the  hive,  and  the  mother  of 
its  progeny  ;  the  drones  are  all  males.  Of  the  drones, 
it  is  said  that  there  are  not  more  than  the  proportion  of 
100  to  a  hive  consisting  of  5000  or  6000.  Of  the  fe- 
i.  16  vii. 


182  HYBERNATION  OF  BEES. 

males,  though  several  are  produced,  only  one  is  permit- 
ted to  live,  this  autocrat  bearing  no  rival  near  her  throne. 

Such  being  the  remarkable  constitution  of  this  indus- 
trious community,  let  us  now  see  in  what  manner  they 
are  directed  by  the  Author  of  their  instincts  to  secure 
themselves  against  the  sterility  of  the  winter  months. 
First  of  all,  it  seems  to  be  a  law  of  this  little  common- 
wealth, that  no  idlers  shall  be  permitted  to  exist.  Be- 
fore any  serious  and  united  effort  is  made  to  complete 
the  winter's  provision,  the  unfortunate  drones  are  con- 
demned to  utter  extermination.  In  July  or  August,  the 
whole  working-classes  seem  to  be  suddenly  seized  with 
a  deadly  fury  towards  the  unproductive  part  of  the  great 
family.  They  chase  their  unhappy  victims  from  every 
place  of  refuge,  till  at  last  they  are  brought  to  the  bottom 
of  the  hive,  where  they  are  indiscriminately  massacred, 
their  bodies  being  transfixed  with  many  wounds,  and  then 
thrown  lifeless  out  of  the  hive.  So  great  is  their  antip- 
athy, at  this  time,  to  the  whole  race  of  drones,  that  they 
simultaneously  destroy  the  male  larvae,  and  tear  open  the 
cocoons  of  their  pupae,  in  order  to  devote  them  to  one 
common  destruction.  "  This  destruction  of  the  males, 
however,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Supplement  to  the  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica,  u  is  not  the  effect  of  a  blind  and  in- 
discriminating  instinct ;  for,  if  a  hive  be  deprived  of  its 
queen,  the  massacre  does  not  take  place,  while  the  hot- 
test persecution  rages  in  all  the  surrounding  hives.  In 
this  case,  the  males  are  allowed  to  survive  one  winter." 
The  providential  design  of  this  doubtless  is,  that,  should 
a  young  queen  be  reared,  she  may  find  a  husband. 

No  sooner  has  the  hive  got  rid  of  the  incumbrance  of 
the  drones,  than  they  commence,  with  the  greatest  assi- 
duity, to  lay  up  their  winter  stores.  During  the  preced- 
ing months  of  summer,  honey  was  to  be  found  in  great 
abundance,  being  yielded  by  almost  every  flower  ;  and 
they  had  partly  availed  themselves  of  that  season  of  ex- 
uberance, to  replenish  their  cells.  But  they  had  not  set 
about  the  matter  in  good  earnest ;  they  had  considered 
it  as  a  pastime,  rather  than  as  a  task  :  when  they  poured 
the  delicious  food  into  their  cells,  it  would  seem  to  have 


HYBERNATION  OF   BEES.  183 

been  rather  with  the  view  of  disgorging  a  too  plentiful 
meal,  and  of  relieving  themselves  from  the  effects  of 
gluttony,  than  from  any  care  about  the  future.  They 
had  been  luxuriating  in  overflowing  sweets,  and  were  lit- 
tle careful  of  a  coming  season  of  scarcity. 

Now,  however,  the  state  of  things  is  altered.  Though 
the  season  is  still  fine,  the  honey-bearing  flowers  have 
begun  to  appear  in  less  plenty,  and  much  remains  to  be 
done,  with  diminished  means.  The  young  brood  are 
fast  vacating  the  cells,  where  they  were  hatched,  and 
these  cradles  must  now  be  converted  into  storehouses. 
All  is  bustle  and  animation.  Not  an  idler  is  to  be  seen. 
The  queen,  like  a  presiding  genius,  hurries  from  place 
to  place,  to  see  that  all  are  at  their  proper  tasks.  Some 
clean  out  the  emptied  cells,  or  rather  smooth  and  pre- 
pare them,  for  the  cocoons  of  the  maggots  are  never  re- 
moved ;  others  repair  the  wax,  where  injured,  or,  if  ne- 
cessary, construct  new  depositories  ;  while  others,  again, 
fly  far  and  wide  in  search  of  the  honey  and  pollen,  which 
are  to  form  the  treasure  of  the  hive,  and  to  preserve 
them  from  want  in  the  winter,  and  early  days  of  the  fu- 
ture spring.  The  eagerness  and  industry  of  these  tiny 
foragers,  is  quite  delightful.  Not  only  do  they  rifle  the 
nectaries, of  flowers,  especially  those  of  the  clover  and 
heath  ;  but  put  in  requisition  the  ripening  fruits,  when 
pierced  by  birds,  and  the  leaves  of  some  trees,  from 
which  a  saccharine  fluid,  at  this  season,  exudes,  and  even 
the  honey-dew,  as  it  is  called, — an  excrement  emitted 
by  the  aphides. 

It  sometimes  happens,  however,  that  an  unfavorable 
harvest  causes  all  these  resources  to  fail,  and  a  coming 
famine  is  anticipated.  The  bees  are  then  thrown  upon 
their  shifts,  and  the  law  of  self-preservation  overcomes 
the  respect  which  they  seem  otherwise  inclined  to  show 
to  the  property  of  their  neighbors.  "On  these  occa- 
sions," says  the  author  of  the  article  in  the  Supplement 
to  the  Encyclopedia,  already  alluded  to,  "  the  distressed 
bees  often  betake  themselves  to  plunder.  Spies  are  sent 
out  to  examine  the  neighboring  hives.  Allured  by  the 
smell  of  honey,  they  examine  the  appearance  and  strength 


184  HYBERNATION  OF  BEES. 

of  its  possessors  ;  and,  selecting  the  weakest  hive  as  the 
object  of  attack,  they  begin  a  furious  onset,  which  costs 
great  numbers  their  lives.  If  the  invaders  should  fail 
in  their  attempt  to  force  the  entrance,  they  retreat,  and 
are  not  pursued  by  those  they  have  assailed  ;  but  if  they 
succeed  in  making  good  the  assault,  the  war  continues  to 
rage  in  the  interior  of  the  hive,  till  one  party  is  utterly 
exterminated  ;  reenforcements  are  sent  for  by  the  in- 
vading army  ;  and  the  bees  from  the  neighboring  hives 
often  join  the  assailants,  and  partake  of  the  plunder.  In 
a  short  time,  the  whole  of  the  enemies'  magazines  are 
completely  emptied.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  invaders 
should  be  defeated,  the  successful  party  is  by  no  means 
safe  from  the  attacks  of  the  bees  from  other  hives,  if  any 
of  them  should  chance  to  have  mingled  in  the  fray,  and 
especially  if  they  have  once  penetrated  as  far  as  the 
magazines  ;  for,  in  that  case,  they  are  sure  to  return,  ac- 
companied with  a  large  reenforcement  ;  and  the  unfortu- 
nate hive  that  has  been  once  attacked,  ultimately  falls  a 
sacrifice  to  those  repeated  invasions." 

Meanwhile,  the  year  advances,  and  the  increasing  cold 
warns  the  little  commonwealth,  that  it  is  dangerous  to 
go  abroad  ;  and,  indeed,  the  growing  deficiency  of  their 
natural  food,  convinces  them,  before  the  end  of  autumn, 
that  the  period  of  cessation  from  labor  out  of  doors  has 
arrived.  They  now  live  on  their  collected  provisions, 
till  the  reduced  temperature  of  the  atmosphere  causes 
them  to  lose  their  appetite,  arid  to  become  torpid.  The 
sleep  of  this  little  insect  is  by  no  means  so  deep,  or  so 
continuous,  as  that  of  many  other  species  of  animals  ; 
and,  had  not  the  Creator  endowed  them  with  the  wonder- 
ful industry  and  forethought  we  have  described,  the  whole 
species  would  soon  have  become  extinct  in  this  northern 
climate,  and  indeed  in  almost  any  climate  of  the  temper- 
ate zone.  Some  naturalists  have  even  disputed  the  fact 
of  the  torpidity  of  the  bee,  under  any  ordinary  circum- 
stances ;  while  others  have  gone  to  an  opposite  extreme. 
We  believe  there  is  no  doubt,  that,  in  an  equable  tem- 
perature, approaching  to  frost,  bees  do  become  torpid, — 
a  proof  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  a  hive, 


HYBERNATION   OF  BEES.  185 

buried,  in  the  beginning  of  winter,  under  ground,  will 
survive  till  spring,  when  it  may  be  disinterred  in  a  healthy 
state,  without  much  exhaustion  of  its  winter  stock.  Now, 
it  has  been  proved  by  various  experiments,  that  a  cur- 
rent of  air  through  a  hive  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
existence  of  bees  in  their  active  state,  and  that  this  ven- 
tilation is  kept  up  by  means  of  the  bees  themselves,  who 
use  their  wings  for  that  purpose,  which  produces  the 
humming  noise  to  be  observed  in  hives.  Were  the  bees, 
therefore,  when  buried,  awake  and  active,  they  would 
assuredly  be  suffocated.  Several  of  our  most  celebrated 
naturalists,  however,  (and,  among  the  rest,  the  elder  Hu- 
ber,)  affirm  positively,  that  bees  do  not  become  torpid  in 
winter.  He  says,  that  the  heat  of  a  well-peopled  hive  is 
as  high  as  eighty-six  degrees  of  Fahrenheit,  even  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  when  the  thermometer,  in  the  open  air, 
is  several  degrees  below  zero,  this  heat  being  generated 
by  the  bees  clustering  together,  and  keeping  themselves 
in  motion  ;  and  that,  even  in  this  degree  of  external  cold^ 
they  may  be  heard  buzzing,  as  they  always  do  when  ven- 
tilating the  hive.  Reaumur,  as  well  as  other  distinguished 
observers,  as  positively  maintains  the  opposite,  and  more 
popular,  opinion.  Our  own  belief  is  that  the  truth  lies 
between  ; — that  the  ordinary  state  of  a  hive,  in  cold  wea- 
ther, is,  as  we  have  already  observed,  a  state  of  torpidity, 
but  that  bees  are  easily  excited,  and  that,  when  roused, 
the  temperature  of  the  hive  quickly  rises,  in  proportion 
to  their  alarm  or  irritation.  While  we  think,  therefore, 
that  Huber's  experience  may  thus  be  accounted  for,  we 
heartily  acquiesce  in  the  following  observations  of  Reau- 
mur, taken  as  expressing  the  general  state  of  a  hive  in 
winter.  ult  has  been  established,"  says  he,  u  with  a 
wisdom  which  we  cannot  but  admire— with  which  every 
thing  in  Nature  has  been  made  and  ordained — that,  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  which  the  country  furnishes 
nothing  to  bees,  they  have  no  longer  need  to  eat.  The 
cold,  which  arrests  the  vegetation  of  plants,  which 
deprives  our  fields  and  meadows  of  their  flowers,  throws 
the  bees  into  a  state  in  which  nourishment  ceases  to  be 
necessary  to  them ;  it  keeps  them  in  a  sort  of  torpidity, 
16* 


186  HYBERNATION   OF  BEES. 

in  which  no  transpiration  from  them  takes  place,  or  at 
least  during  which  the  quantity  of  what  transpires  is  so 
inconsiderable,  that  it  cannot  be  restored  by  aliment, 
without  their  lives  being  endangered." 

The  following  humane  observations,  in  a  recent  pub- 
lication, are  well  worthy  of  attention,  and  we  strongly 
recommend  to  bee-breeders  the  practice  of  Mr.  Nutt,  as 
detailed  by  this  author,  by  which  the  cruelty  he  depre- 
cates may  be  avoided,  even  with  profit. 

u  The  usual  practice  of  obtaining  honey  from  domestic 
bees,  was  one  of  great,  and,  as  it  should  seem,  wanton 
and  unnecessary  cruelty.  The  little  creatures,  after  they 
had  toiled  throughout  the  whole  season,  were  not  only 
deprived  of  all  the  winter  store  which  they  had  accumu- 
lated, but  they  were  smoked  with  sulphur  in  the  hive,  by 
means  of  which  both  old  and  young  were  entirely  cut 
off.  There  is  a  degree  of  unfeeling  cruelty  in  this,  at 
which  the  mind  revolts  ;  because,  though  all  creatures 
are,  in  some  way  or  other,  adapted  for  the  use  of  man, 
the  destruction  of  the  creatures  is  no  part  of  man's  legiti- 
mate occupation.  He  has,  undoubtedly,  a  right  to  his 
share  of  every  production  of  the  earth,  which  can  in  any 
way  contribute  to  his  comfort ;  but  it  is  his  duty  and  his 
interest  to  take  that  share,  in  wisdom,  not  in  wantonness  ; 
and  he  could,  upon  every  occasion,  so  manage  matters,  as 
that  the  quantity  which  he  takes,  might  benefit  that  which 
is  left ;  and  thus,  while  he  uses,  he  might  ameliorate  and 
improve  all  that  grows  and  lives  around  him ;  and  so  be 
the  adorner  of  creation,  and  not  the  destroyer. 

"Many  plans  have  been  resorted  to,  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  bees,  and  the  leaving  of  as  much  honey  as  shall 
support  them  during  the  winter.  One  of  the  most  recent, 
and,  perhaps,  the  best  of  these,  is  that  introduced  by  Mr. 
Nutt,  a  cultivator  of  bees  in  Lincolnshire.  In  this  meth- 
od, three  boxes  are  placed  together,  with  a  door  for 
entrance  in  the  central  box  only,  but  with  a  communica- 
tion between  it  and  each  of  the  lateral  ones.  By  means 
of  ventilation,  the  two  side  boxes  are  kept  at  a  heat  which 
is  well  adapted  for  laboring  bees,  but  below  that  at  which 
the  young  are  hatched.  The  bees  are  placed,  at  first,  in 


HYBERNATION  OF  BEES.  187 

the  central  box  only ;  and  when  the  first  swarm  of  the 
season  is  produced,  and  would  depart,  admission  is  given 
to  one  of  the  side  boxes  ;  and,  when  that  is  filled,  simi- 
lar admission  is  given  into  the  other.  The  temperature 
of  these  is  regulated  by  means  of  ventilators  ;  and,  when 
it  is  ascertained  that  one  of  them  is  full,  as  much  ventila- 
tion is  given  to  it,  as  drives  all  the  bees  into  the  central 
box ;  the  communication  between  them  is  closed,  and 
the  box  is  removed,  without  the  destruction  of  a  single 
bee. 

"  This  is  not  the  only  advantage  gained ;  for  the  honey 
is  purer,  and  altogether  of  superior  quality.  The  low 
temperature  of  the  side  boxes  not  only  prevents  a  queen 
bee  from  taking  up  her  abode  in  them  ;  but  none  of  the 
eggs,  the  young,  or  the  substances  required  for  their 
nourishment  in  the  larva  state,  are  ever  deposited  in  those 
boxes.  Thus  they  contain  only  honey-cells  and  honey ; 
and  as  those  cells  are  constructed  only  as  they  are  re- 
quired, the  combs  are  always  full. 

"  By  this  means,  from  one  swarm  of  bees,  cultivated 
for  five  years,  Mr.  Nutt  obtained  737  Ibs.  of  honey,  and 
left  712  Ibs.  during  the  currency  of  the  time  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  bees,  the  increase  of  which  was  regu- 
larly progressive  during  the  whole  time,  which,  from  its 
superior  quality,  would  be  worth  fourteen  guineas,  on  the 
average  of  every  year,  besides  the  expense  of  bringing  it 
to  market.  There  are  very  many  situations  in  this  country, 
where  every  cottager  might  cultivate  one  such  establish- 
ment of  bees,  the  profits  of  which  would  suffice  to  furnish 
himself  and  his  family  with  comfortable  clothing,  and  also 
to  replace  their  household  furniture."* 

*  Mudie's  edition  of  Wesley's  Natural  Philosophy,  vol.  ii.  pp.  264—266. 


188  HYBERNATION  OF  THE    SNAIL. 


SEVENTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

HYBERNATION  OF  THE  SNAIL. 

THE  garden-snail  is  admirably  adapted  to  its  mode  of 
life,  and  is  furnished  with  organs  almost  as  complete  as 
the  largest  animal ;  with  a  tongue,  brain,  salival  ducts, 
glands,  nerves,  stomach,  and  intestines ;  with  liver,heart, 
and  blood-vessels.  These  it  possesses  in  common  with 
other  animals,  but  it  has  some  striking  peculiarities, — one 
of  which  is,  that,  of  four  flexible  horns  with  which  it  is 
furnished,  the  two  uppermost  are  gifted  with  eyes,  which 
appear  like  black  spots  on  their  extreme  ends,  and  which 
it  can  hide,  by  a  very  swift  contraction,  in  the  interior 
of  its  body.  Every  one  knows,  that  another  peculiarity, 
which  distinguishes  it  from  other  land  animals,  is  its  shell, 
which  it  carries  on  its  back  wherever  it  goes,  and  which 
serves  at  once  as  its  house  for  lodging,  and  as  its  armor 
for  defence. 

The  history  of  this  animal,  so  far  as  it  suits  our  present 
purpose  to  advert  to  it,  is  as  follows  : — It  lays  its  eggs 
in  shady  and  moist  hollows,  which  it  excavates  with  a 
member  which  is  called  its  foot,  as  by  this  it  has  the  power 
of  locomotion.  These  eggs  are  hatched,  sooner  or  later, 
according  to  the  temperature,  producing  little  snails,  ex- 
actly resembling  their  parent,  but  so  delicate,  that  a  sun- 
stroke destroys  them,  so  that  few,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, reach  the  end  of  the  first  year,  when  they  are  suffi- 
ciently defended  by  the  hardness  of  their  shell.  The 
animal,  at  its  first  exclusion,  lives  solely  on  the  pellicle 
of  the  egg  from  which  it  was  produced.  "Providence," 
as  Kirby  justly  observes,  "  which,  in  oviparous  and  other 
animals,  has  provided  for  the  first  nutriment  of  the  young 
in  different  ways,  appropriating  the  milk  of  the  mother 
to  the  young  of  quadrupeds,  the  yolk  of  the  egg  to  those 
of  birds,  tortoises,  and  lizards,  and  the  white  of  the  egg 


HYBERNATION   OF  THE    SNAIL.  189 

to  frogs  and  toads,  has  made  this  pellicle,  or  coat,  the 
best  nutriment  of  the  young  snail.  In  fact,  this  pellicle, 
consisting  of  carbonate  of  lime,  united  to  animal  substance, 
is  necessary  to  produce  the  calcareous  secretion  of  the 
mantle,  and  to  consolidate  the  shell,  as  yet  too  soft  for 
exposure."  When  this  natural  envelope  is  eaten,  the 
young  snail  finds  its  nourishment  in  the  vegetable  soil 
around  it.  After  the  concealment  of  a  month,  it  ap- 
pears on  the  vegetable  productions  of  the  garden  or 
meadow,  which  it  seems  indiscriminately  to  devour, — its 
house  still  growing  with  its  growth,  till  it  has  completed 
five  convolutions,  by  which  time  the  animal  has  attained 
its  full  size. 

These  snails  cease  feeding,  when  the  first  chills  of 
autumn  are  felt ;  and,  generally  associating  in  considera- 
ble numbers,  on  hillocks,  in  the  banks  of  ditches,  or  in 
thickets  and  hedges,  they  set  about  their  preparations  for 
their  winter  retreat.  They  first  expel  the  contents  of 
their  intestines,  and  then,  concealing  themselves  under 
moss,  grass,  or  dead  leaves,  each  forms,  by  means  of  its 
foot,  and  the  viscid  mucus  which  it  secretes,  a  cavity 
large  enough  to  contain  its  shell.  The  mode  in  which  it 
effects  this  is  remarkable  ;  collecting  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  the  mucus  on  the  sole  of  its  foot,  a  portion  of 
earth  and  dead  leaves  adheres  to  it,  which  it  shakes  off 
on  one  side  ;  a  second  portion  is  again  collected  and  de- 
posited, and  so  on,  till  it  has  reared  around  itself  a  kind 
of  wall,  of  sufficient  height  to  form  a  cavity  that  will  con- 
tain its  shell ;  and  then,  by  turning  itself  round,  it  presses 
against  the  sides,  which  renders  them  smooth  and  firm. 
The  dome,  or  covering,  is  formed  in  the  same  way  ;  earth 
is  collected  on  the  foot,  which  it  then  turns  upward,  and 
throws  off  by  exuding  fresh  mucus  ;  and  this  is  repeated, 
till  a  perfect  roof  is  formed.  Having  now  completed  its 
winter  house,  it  draws  in  its  foot,  covering  it  with  the 
mantle,  and  opens  its  spiracle  to  draw  in  the  air.  On 
closing  this,  it  forms,  with  its  slime,  a  fine  membrane, 
interposed  between  the  mantle  and  extraneous  substances. 
Soon  afterwards,  the  mantle  secretes  a  large  portion  of 
very  white  fluid  over  its  whole  surface,  which  instantly 


190  HIBERNATION  OF  THE    SNAIL. 

sets  uniformly,  and  forms  a  kind  of  solid  operculum,  like 
plaster  of  Paris,  about  half  a  line  in  thickness,  which  ac- 
curately closes  the  mouth.  When  this  is  become  hard, 
the  animal  separates  the  mantle  from  it.  After  a  time, 
expelling  a  portion  of  the  air  it  had  inspired,  and  thus 
being  reduced  in  bulk,  it  retreats  a  little  further  into  the 
shell,  when  it  forms  another  leaf  of  mucus  ;  and  it  con- 
tinues repeating  this  operation,  till  there  are  sometimes 
five  or  six  of  these  leaves,  forming  cells  filled  with  air 
between  it  and  the  operculum.  Respiration  ceases  during 
the  period  of  hybernation.* 

The  mode  in  which  these  animals  escape  from  their 
winter  confinement  is  singular  : — The  air  which  they 
had  expired,  on  retiring  into  their  shell  further  and  further, 
remains  between  the  different  partitions  of  the  mucous 
membrane  above-mentioned,  which  forms  so  many  shells 
hermetically  sealed  ;  this  they  again  inspire,  and  thus 
acquiring  fresh  vigor,  each  separate  partition,  as  they 
proceed,  is  broken  by  the  pressure  of  the  foot,  projected 
in  part  through  the  mantle  ;  when  arrived  at  the  oper- 
culum, they  burst  in  by  a  strong  effort,  and  finally  de- 
taching it,  then  emerge,  begin  to  walk,  and  to  break  their 
long  fast  ! 

"In  all  these  proceedings,"  observes  Mr.  Kirby,  after 
recording  the  above  details,  "  the  superintending  care 
and  wise  provisions  of  a  Father-Being  are  evident.  This 
creature  can  neither  foresee  the  degree  of  cold  to  which 
it  may  be  exposed  in  its  state  of  hybernation,  nor  know 
by  what  means  it  may  secure  itself  from  the  fatal  effects 
it  would  produce  upon  it,  if  not  provided  against. 

"  But,  at  a  destined  period,  often  when  the  range  of 
the  thermometer  is  high,  not  stimulated  by  a  cold  atmo- 
sphere,— except  perhaps  by  the  increasing  length  of  the 
night, — at  the  bidding  of  some  secret  power,  it  sets  about 
erecting  its  winter  dwelling  ;  and,  employing  its  foot,  not 
only  as  a  shovel  to  make  its  mortar,  but  as  a  hod  to  trans- 
port it,  and  a  trowel  to  spread  it  duly  and  evenly,  at 

*  Goldsmith  is  mistaken  when  he  says,  that  the  snail  opens  an  air- 
hole into  its  shell. — Gaspard  and  Bell ;  Zoological  Journal,  i.  93  ; 
ii.  174. 


HYBERNATION  OF  THE  BEETLE.         191 

length  finishes  and  covers  in  its  snug  and  warm  retreat  ; 
and  then,  still  further  to  secure  itself  from  the  action  of 
the  atmosphere,  with  the  slimy  secretion  with  which  its 
Maker  has  gifted  it,  fixes  partition  after  partition,  and 
fills  each  cell,  formed  by  it,  with  air,  till  it  has  retreated 
as  far  as  it  can  from  every  closed  orifice  of  its  shell,  and 
thus  barricades  itself  against  a  frozen  death.  Again,  in 
the  spring,  when  the  word  is  spoken, — Jlwake^  thou  that 
sleepest,  it  begins  immediately  to  act  with  energy  ;  it  re- 
inspires,  as  above  related,  the  air  stored  in  its  cells  ; 
bursts  all  its  cerements;  returns  to  its  summer  haunts, 
and  again  lays  waste  our  gardens."* 


SEVENTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

HYBERNATION  OF  THE  BEETLE. ANIMALCULES  IN  PASTE. 

AMONG  insects,  the  beetle  has  some  peculiar  instincts, 
which  will  come  more  properly  under  our  observation  at 
another  season.  At  present,  I  shall  only  mention  three 
instances  of  remarkable  habits,  relating  to  the  state  of 
particular  species  of  this  insect  in  winter.  Beetles,  it 
may  be  premised,  are  distinguished  from  other  tribes  of 
the  same  order,  by  being  furnished  with  cases  to  cover 
two  transparent  wings.  Like  other  insects,  they  are  bred 
from  eggs,  which  first  become  grubs  ;  then  chrysalides, 
in  which  parts  of  the  future  fly  are  distinctly  seen  ;  and, 
lastly,  assuming  their  perfect  or  imago  state,  they  acquire 
wings,  and  mount  into  the  air. 

The  first  species  of  this  little  animal  which  I  shall  in- 
troduce to  the  notice  of  my  readers,  is  the  May-bug,  or 

*  [Our  American  snails,  or  Helices,  form  for  their  operculum,  or  epi- 
phragm,  merely  a  thin,  and  almost  transparent  membrane,  and  not  a 
calcareous  and  opaque  one.  Nor  do  they  infest  our  gardens,  but  are 
principally  to  be  found  in  thick  forests  and  unsettled  or  thinly  inhabited 
regions. — AM.  ED.] 


192        HYBERNATION  OF  THE  BEETLE. 

Dorr -beetle,  well  known  to  children  by  its  evening  buzz 
during  the  months  of  summer.  In  its  maggot  state,  in 
which  it  remains,  without  any  other  change  than  increase 
of  size  and  the  annual  renewal  of  its  skin,  for  no  less  a 
period  than  three  years,  it  burrows  underground,  so  near 
the  surface,  as  to  devour  the  roots  of  plants,  on  which  it 
feeds  voraciously,  and  without  discrimination.  When 
largest,  it  is  found  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  of  a  whitish- 
yellow  color,  with  a  body  consisting  of  twelve  segments 
or  joints,  on  each  side  of  which  there  are  nine  breathing 
holes,  and  three  red  feet ;  but  it  is  destitute  of  eyes,  hav- 
ing no  occasion  for  them  in  its  natural  habitation,  where 
light  does  not  penetrate, — here  exhibiting  a  new  and  re- 
markable instance  of  the  attention  of  the  Creator,  in  adapt- 
ing the  faculties  of  creatures  to  the  situation  for  which 
they  are  destined,  as  well  in  what  He  withholds  as  in  what 
He  grants. 

At  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  of  its  existence,  it  be- 
gins to  provide  itself  a  secure  winter  habitation,  with  a 
view  to  its  future  condition.  About  the  latter  end  of 
August,  it  seems  first  to  come  under  the  influence  of  that 
extraordinary  instinct,  which  leads  it  to  prepare  for  its 
important  change.  It  then  buries  itself  deeper  and  deep- 
er in  the  earth,  sometimes,  in  favorable  situations,  to  the 
depth  of  six  feet,  and  there  forms  for  itself  a  capacious 
apartment,  the  walls  of  which  it  renders  very  smooth  and 
shining,  by  the  exertions  of  its  body.  Its  abode  being 
thus  formed,  it  begins  soon  after  to  shorten  itself,  to 
swell,  and  to  burst  its  last  skin,  in  order  to  assume  the 
form  of  a  chrysalis.  This,  in  the  beginning,  appears  of  a 
yellowish  color,  which  heightens  by  degrees,  till  at  last 
it  appears  nearly  red.  Its  exterior  form  plainly  discov- 
ers all  the  vestiges  of  the  future  winged  insect,  the  entire 
fore-parts  being  distinctly  seen  ;  while,  behind,  the  ani- 
mal seems  as  if  wrapped  in  swaddling-clothes. 

The  young  May-bug  continues  in  this  state  for  nearly 
three  months,  and  then  divests  itself  of  all  its  impedi- 
ments, and  becomes  a  winged  insect,  completely  formed. 
This  happens  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  ;  but  it  is 
not  yet  time  for  it  to  emerge  into  open  day,  the  season 


HYBERNATION   OF  THE  BEETLE.  193 

of  the  year  being  unpropitious  to  its  new  habits.  Unlike 
most  other  insects,  therefore,  which,  immediately  after 
their  change,  enter  at  once  into  all  the  enjoyments  of 
their  new  being,  it  remains  in  a  state  of  infant  imbecility 
for  four  months  longer,  during  which  time,  though  with- 
out food,  it  gradually  acquires  firmness  and  vigor  ;  and, 
about  the  end  of  May,  when  the  genial  season  has  re- 
turned, it  works  its  way  to  the  light  and  warmth  of  the 
summer's  atmosphere,  where,  from  living  for  four  years 
under  ground,  and  feeding  only  on  roots,  it  buzzes  joy- 
fully through  the  mild  air,  having  the  sweetest  vege- 
tables for  its  banquet,  and  the  dew  of  evening  for  its 
drink. 

Another  insect,  allied  to  the  beetle  kind,  is  still  more 
remarkable  in  its  instincts,  if  any  thing  in  this  world  of 
wonders  can  be  said  to  have  the  preeminence  :  I  allude 
to  the  nut- weevil,  (Curculio  nuctim.)  Dr.  Good  has 
chosen  this  little  creature  as  an  illustration  of  the  absurd- 
ity of  the  hypothesis,  which  makes  instinct  to  depend 
on  imitation,  education,  or  reasoning  ;  and,  assuredly,  even 
though  the  supposition  were  not  contradicted  by  almost 
every  habit  and  pursuit  of  the  inferior  creation,  this  in- 
stance might  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  show  the  untenable 
nature  of  the  theory.  The  nut-weevil,  "  with  a  finished 
knowledge  of  the  art,"  as  Dr.  Good  expresses  it,  u  sin- 
gles out  a  nut,  in  the  month  of  August,  while  its  shell  is 
yet  soft  and  penetrable  ;  and,  having  prepared  to  deposit 
her  eggs,  pierces  it  with  her  proboscis,  and  then,  turning 
round  accurately,  drops  an  egg  into  the  minute  perfora- 
tion. Having  accomplished  this,  she  passes  on,  pierces 
another  nut,  drops  another  egg,  and  so  continues,  till 
she  has  exhausted  her  whole  stock.  The  nut  continues 
to  grow  ;  the  egg  is  soon  hatched  ;  the  young  maggot 
finds  its  food  already  ripened,  and  in  waiting  for  it ;  and, 
about  the  time  of  its  full  growth,  falls  with  the  mature 
nut  to  the  ground,  and  at  length,  when  its  provision  here 
is  exhausted,  creeps  out,  by  gnawing  a  circular  hole  in 
its  side.  It  then  burrows  under  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
where  it  continues  dormant  for  eight  months ;  at  the  ter- 
mination of  which, it  casts  its  skin,  becomes  a  chrysalis 
i.  17  vn. 

^%^ 


194  HYBERNATION  OF  THE  BEETLE. 

of  the  general  shape  and  appearance  of  the  beetle  kind, 
and,  in  the  beginning  of  August,  throws  off  the  chrysalid 
investment,  creeps  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  finds 
itself  accommodated  with  wings,  becomes  an  inhabitant 
of  the  air,  and  instantly  pursues  the  very  same  train  of 
actions  to  provide  for  a  new  progeny,  which  had  been 
pursued  by  the  parent  insect  of  the  year  before." 

One  more  example,  which  I  shall  notice,  of  the  habits 
of  particular  species  of  the  remarkably  varied  class  of 
beetles,  is  of  a  very  different  kind  ;  and  my  object,  in 
adverting  to  it,  is, to  show  another  principle,  by  which  the 
sterility  of  winter  is  rendered  innoxious  to  certain  animals. 
We  have  seen  instances  in  which,  among  vertebrated  as 
well  as  invertebrated  beings,  the  expedient  of  torpidity 
is  resorted  to  by  the  Author  of  Nature,  to  sustain  life, 
and  perhaps  enjoyment  also,  during  this  rigorous  season. 
But,  in  the  example  I  am  going  to  produce,  there  ap- 
pears to  be  no  need  of  this  suspension  of  motion  and 
external  sensation,  as  the  little  creature  is  able  to  survive 
a  whole  winter,  and  even  much  longer,  without  any  food 
whatever,  except  what  is  derived  from  the  atmosphere ; 
and  this,  indeed,  is  a  property  which  belongs  to  various 
classes  of  the  invertebrated  genus.  The  account  is  tak- 
en from  the  communication  of  a  writer  in  the  Philosoph- 
ical Transactions  : — "  On  the  removal  of  a  large  leaden 
cistern,  I  observed,  at  the  bottom  of  it,  black  beetles. 
One  of  the  largest  I  threw  into  a  cup  of  spirits, — it  be- 
ing the  way  of  killing  and  preparing  insects  for  my  pur- 
pose. In  a  few  minutes,  it  appeared  to  be  quite  dead. 
I  then  shut  it  up  in  a  box,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  in 
diameter,  and,  throwing  it  into  a  drawer,  thought  no  more 
of  it  for  two  months  ;  when,  opening  the  box,  I  found 
it  alive  and  vigorous,  though  it  had  no  food  all  the  time, 
nor  any  more  air  than  it  could  find  in  so  small  a  box, 
whose  cover  shut  very  close.  A  few  days  before,  a 
friend  had  sent  me  three  or  four  cockroaches.  These  I 
had  put  under  a  large  glass  ;  I  put  my  beetle  among  them, 
and  fed  them  with  green  ginger,  which  they  ate  greedily  ; 
but  he  would  never  taste  it,  for  the  five  weeks  they  lived 
there.  The  cockroaches  would  avoid  the  beetle,  and 


ANIMALCULES   IN  PASTE.  195 

seemed  frightened  at  his  approach  ;  but  he  usually  stalked 
along,  not  at  all  regarding  whether  they  came  in  his  way 
or  not.  During  the  two  years  and  a  half  that  I  have 
kept  him,  he  has  neither  ate  nor  drank. 

"  How,  then,  has  he  been  kept  alive  ?  Is  it  by  the  air? 
There  are  particles  in  this,  which  supply  a  growth  to 
some  species  of  plants,  as  sempervivum,  orpine,  and 
house-leek.  May  not  the  same  or  like  particles  supply 
nourishment  to  some  species  of  animals?  In  the  amazing 
plan  of  Nature,  the  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral  king- 
doms are  not  separated  from  each  other  by  wide  distan- 
ces ;  indeed,  their  boundaries  differ  from  each  other  by 
such  minute  and  insensible  degrees,  that  we  cannot  find 
out  certainly  where  the  one  begins,  or  the  other  ends. 
As  the  air,  therefore,  nourishes  some  plants,  so  it  may 
nourish  some  animals ;  otherwise,  a  link  would  seem  to 
be  wanting  in  the  mighty  chain  of  beings.  It  is  certain, 
chameleons  and  snakes  can  live  many  months  without  any- 
visible  sustenance,  and  probably  not  merely  by  their 
slow  digestion,  but  rather  by  means  of  particles  contained 
in  the  air,  as  the  beetle  did  ;  yet,  doubtless,  in  its  natu- 
ral state,  it  used  more  substantial  food.  So  the  plants 
above-mentioned  thrive  best  with  a  little  earth,  although 
they  flourish  a  long  time,  and  send  forth  branches  and 
flowers,  when  they  are  suspended  in  the  air.  Even  in 
the  exhausted  receiver,  after  it  had  been  there  half  an 
hour,  it  seemed  perfectly  unconcerned,  walking  about  as 
briskly  as  ever  ;  but,  on  the  admission  of  the  air,  it 
seemed  to  be  in  a  surprise  for  a  minute." 

It  is  impossible  not  to  view,  with  wonder  and  admira- 
tion, the  various  ways  in  which  animal  life  is  sustained, 
sometimes  even  under  circumstances  which,  arguing  from 
ordinary  analogies,  would  seem  to  insure  its  destruction. 
I  have  already  alluded  to  the  power  possessed  by  some 
insects'  eggs  to  resist  extreme  cold  ;  and,  before  passing 
to  the  hybernation  of  higher  species,  I  shall  conclude 
this  paper  by  remarking,  that  there  are  some  very  mi- 
nute kinds  of  animalcules,  the  germs  of  which  seem  ca- 
fable  of  resisting  the  extremes  both  of  heat  and  cold, 
f  the  paste  of  flour,  which  has  been  boiled  ever  so  long 


196  GREATNESS    OF   GOD 

in  the  making,  be  allowed  to  become  sour,  and  then  be 
mixed  with  water,  the  mixture,  when  a  microscope  of 
sufficient  magnifying  power  is  applied  to  it,  will  appear 
to  be  composed,  almost  entirely,  of  little  eels,  very  hand- 
somely formed,  and  moving  about  with  great  activity. 
Allow  the  same  mixture  of  paste  and  water  to  become 
solid  by  drought,  or  by  freezing,  and  let  it  be  again  moist- 
ened or  thawed,  and  it  will  be  as  completely  peopled  as 
ever,  with  its  microscopic  inhabitants.  Now,  as  it  would 
be  quite  unphilosophical  to  admit  the  principle  of  equiv- 
ocal generation,  we  are  bound  to  conclude,  that  the  germs 
of  these  living  creatures  were  lodged  in  the  mixture,  be- 
fore it  was  subjected  to  the  process  of  boiling,  and  were 
only  developed  by  the  subsequent  fermentation  ;  so  that 
it  would  appear,  in  this  case,  that  the  principle  of  life,  in 
whatever  form  it  may  exist,  is  indestructible  by  very 
great  alternations  of  heat  and  cold  ;  and,  indeed,  we  are 
not  warranted  to  affix  boundaries  to  this  power,  or  to 
conclude,  from  the  experiments  which  have  yet  been 
made,  that  any  length  of  time,  however  extended,  or  any 
degree  of  heat  or  cold,  however  great,  would  be  sufficient 
to  destroy  the  vitality  of  these  germs. 

The  wonders,  indeed,  which  an  examination  of  the 
incalculably, numerous  and  amazingly- diversified  classes 
of  invertebrated  animals  discloses,  grow  upon  us  in  every 
direction,  as  we  proceed  ;  and  the  pious  exclamation  of 
the  Psalmist,  recurs  to  us,  perpetually, — UO  Lord  !  how 
manifold  are  Thy  works  !  In  wisdom  hast  Thou  made 
them  all." 


EIGHTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

GREATNESS  OF  GOD  EVEN  IN  THE  SMALLEST  THINGS. 

THE  following  reflections  of  Mr.  Sturm,  the  wellknown 
popular  German  writer,  are  so  appropriate,  as  a  sequel 


EVEN  IN  THE   SMALLEST  THINGS.  197 

to  our  observations  in  the  course  of  the  preceding  week, 
as  well  as  to  the  previous  notices  respecting  the  wonders 
of  the  microscope,  that  I  think  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
direct  my  readers  to  a  more  suitable  subject  of  consid- 
eration on  this  sacred  day. 

He  who  delights  to  contemplate  the  works  of  God,  will 
not  only  discover  His  hand  in  those  immense  globes  which 
compose  the  system  of  the  universe,  but  also  in  the  little 
worlds  of  insects,  plants,  and  metals.  He  will  search  for, 
and  adore  the  wisdom  of  God,  as  well  in  the  spider's 
web,  as  in  the  power  of  gravitation,  which  attracts  the 
earth  towards  the  sun.  These  researches  are  at  present 
the  easier,  as  microscopes  have  discovered  to  us  new 
scenes  and  new  worlds,  in  which  we  behold,  in  miniature, 
whatever  may  excite  our  admiration.  They  who  have 
not  the  opportunity  of  using  such  instruments  will  read 
at  least  with  pleasure,  the  following  remarks  on  micro- 
scopic objects. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  observe  the  inanimate  world. 
Behold  those  mosses  and  little  plants  which  God  has 
produced  in  such  abundance.  Of  what  extremely  small 
particles,  and  fine  threads, are  these  plants  composed! 
What  a  variety  in  their  forms  and  shapes  !  Think  on  the 
innumerable  multitude  of  small  particles  of  which  every 
body  is  composed,  and  which  may  be  detached  from  it ! 
If  a  hexagon,  of  an  inch  square,  contain  a  hundred  mil- 
lions of  visible  parts,  who  can  calculate  all  the  particles 
which  compose  a  mountain  ?  If  millions  of  globules  of 
water  may  be  suspended  from  the  point  of  a  needle,  how 
many  must  there  be  in  a  spring,  in  a  well,  in  a  river,  in 
the  sea  ?  If,  from  a  lighted  candle,  there  issue  in  a  sec- 
ond more  particles  of  light  than  there  are  grains  of  sand  in 
the  whole  earth,  how  many  igneous  particles  must  there 
issue  from  a  large  fire  in  an  hour  ?*  If  one  grain  of  sand 
contain  more  than  a  thousand  millions  of  particles  of  air, 
how  many  must  there  be  in  the  human  body  ?  If  men 
can  divide  one  grain  of  copper  into  millions  of  parts, 

*  This  remark  proceeds,  of  course,  on  the  old  theory  of  the  emana- 
tion of  light  and  heat.  But,  on  the  undulatory  theory,  the  wonder  is  not 
lessened.— H.  D. 

17* 


198  GREATNESS   OF  GOD 

without  arriving  at  the  first  elements  of  matter — if  odor- 
iferous bodies  can  exhale  a  sufficiency  of  odorous  parti- 
cles, so  as  to  be  perceived  at  a  great  distance,  without 
any  sensible  diminution  of  weight,  it  would  require  an 
eternity  for  the  human  mind  to  calculate  the  number  of 
particles  which  exist  in  those  bodies. 

If  we  pass  next  to  the  animal  kingdom,  the  scene  will 
be  incalculably  extended.  In  summer,  the  air  is  full  of 
living  creatures.  Every  person  has  seen  those  innumera- 
ble swarms  of  flies,  gnats,  and  other  insects,  which  gather 
together  in  a  small  space.  What  prodigious  hosts  must 
there  be  of  them,  that  live  and  sport  over  the  whole 
earth,  and  in  the  immense  extent  of  the  atmosphere  ! 
How  many  millions  of  still  smaller  insects  and  worms  are 
there,  which  crawl  on  the  earth,  or  in  the  entrails  of  ani- 
mals !  With  what  splendor,  does  the  power  of  God 
manifest  itself  to  the  mind,  when  we  reflect  on  the  mul- 
titude of  parts  of  which  these  creatures  are  composed,  of 
whose  very  existence  most  men  are  ignorant !  Were  we 
not,  at  any  time,  able  to  prove  it  by  experiment,  could 
we  imagine  there  were  animals  a  million  of  times  less  than 
a  grain  of  sand,  with  organs  of  nutrition,  motion,  &c.  ? 
There  are  shellfish  so  small,  that,  even  viewed  through 
the  microscope,  they  appear  scarcely  so  large  as  a  grain 
of  barley ;  and  yet  they  are  real  animals,  with  durable 
dwelling  places,  the  foldings  and  recesses  of  which,  form 
so  many  different  apartments.  How  exceedingly  small 
is  a  mite ;  nevertheless,  this  almost  imperceptible  point, 
seen  through  a  microscope,  is  a  hairy  animal,  perfect  in 
all  its  members,  of  a  regular  figure,  full  of  life  and  sen- 
sibility, and  provided  with  every  necessary  organ.  Al- 
though this  animal  is  scarcely  visible  to  us,  yet  it  has  a 
multitude  of  still  smaller  parts ;  and,  what  is  yet  more 
admirable,  the  glasses  which  show  us  so  many  faults  and 
imperfections  in  the  most  finished  works  of  man,  can 
observe  nothing  but  regularity  and  perfection  in  these 
microscopic  objects  !  How  inconceivably  thin  and  ten- 
der are  the  threads  of  a  spider  !  It  has  been  calculated 
that  it  would  take  36,000  of  them  to  make  the  thickness 
of  a  thread  of  common  sewing  silk  !  Each  of  the  six 


EVEN  IN  THE   SMALLEST  THINGS.  199 

papillae  from  which  the  spider  draws  that  glutinous  liquor 
of  which  it  forms  its  web,  is  composed  of  a  thousand  in- 
sensible pores,  which  give  passage  to  so  many  threads  ; 
so  that,  however  fine  the  spider's  thread  may  appear,  it 
is  composed  of  6000  smaller  ones  ! 

You  are  struck  with  astonishment :  but,  suppose  we 
had  microscopes  which  could  magnify  some  thousands  of 
times  more  than  those  glasses  do,  through  which  a  mite 
appears  no  larger  than  a  grain  of  barley,  what  wonders 
should  we  then  see  !  And,  even  then,  should  we  reach 
the  limits  of  creation  in  these  inconceivably  small  pro- 
ductions ?  Certainly  not :  and  it  would  be  presumption 
and  extravagance  to  believe  it.  Each  creature  has  a 
kind  of  infinity  ;  and  the  more  we  contemplate  the  works 
of  God,  the  more  the  wonders  of  His  power  shall  be  mul- 
tiplied in  our  sight. 

Our  imagination  is  confounded  in  the  two  extremes  of 
Nature, the  great  and  the  small ;  and  we  know  not  whether 
we  should  admire  the  Divine  power  more  in  those  enor- 
mous masses  which  roll  over  our  heads,  or  in  those  mi- 
croscopic objects  which  are  invisible  to  the  naked  eyes. 
Should  not  the  contemplation  of  the  works  of  God  be 
our  most  pleasing  occupation  ?  The  trouble  of  study 
would  be  amply  compensated  by  the  pure  and  innocent 
pleasures  which  it  would  afford.  It  would,  at  least, 
awaken  in  us  an  ardent  desire  to  arrive  in  those  blessed 
regions  where  we  should  require  neither  microscopes  nor 
telescopes  to  enable  us  to  discover  the  wondrous  works 
of  God.  There,  all  His  works  shall  be  so  unveiled  to  our 
eyes,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  the  destination, 
structure,  and  relations  of  each  object.  There,  immortal 
songs  of  praise  shall  resound  to  the  honor  of  the  Creator 
of  the  universe.  There,  all  distinction  of  great  and  small 
shall  be  entirely  done  away  ;  for  every  thing  shall  appear 
great  in  our  sight,  and  fill  our  souls  with  admiration  and 


200  HYBERNATION. 


EIGHTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

HYBERNATION. MIGRATION    OF    BIRDS. 

THE  migration  of  birds,  before  winter  deprives  them 
of  their  natural  food,  or  diminishes  the  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere  below  what  their  constitution  is  able  to 
bear,  is  not  only  one  of  the  familiar,  but  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  operations  of  this  interesting  class  of  the  ani- 
mal creation.  No  person  of  observation  can  reside  long 
in  a  rural  district,  without  being  struck  with  the  change 
which  takes  place  in  its  feathered  inhabitants  about  the 
commencement  of  this  less  genial  season.  While  hardier 
races  of  birds,  unknown  to  us  in  spring  and  summer, 
begin  to  appear,  we  lose  sight  of  many  of  those  tenants 
of  our  hedges  and  groves,  which  cheered  us  with  their 
music,  or  pleased  our  eye  by  the  variety  and  brilliancy 
of  their  plumage.  They  had  long  since  almost  ceased  to 
afford  us  agreeable  notice  of  their  presence,  by  the  dis- 
tinctive variety  of  their  music  ;  but  we  had,  only  a  few 
days  or  weeks  before,  seen  them  flitting  gayly  across  our 
path,  or  perched  quietly  or  peeringly  on  some  neighbor- 
ing bough  ;  yet  now,  neither  to  the  eye  nor  ear,  do  they 
any  longer  give  indications  of  their  existence.  What 
has  become  of  these  interesting  attendants  on  our  sum- 
mer walks  ?  The  solicitude  to  which  reflections  on 
their  fate,  during  the  vicissitudes  of  our  rude  winter  cli- 
mate, give  rise,  is  beautifully  and  feelingly  expressed  by 
the  Scottish  poet  :* 

"  Ilk  happing  bird,  wee,  helpless  thing, 
Which,  in  the  merry  months  of  spring, 
Delighted  me  to  hear  thee  sing, 

What  comes  o'  thee? 
Where  wilt  thou  cow'r  thy  chittering  wing, 

And  close  thy  e'e?" 

*  Burns. 


MIGRATION  OF  BIRDS.  201 

Were  we,  indeed,  for  the  first  time,  and  without  the  cor- 
rection of  experience,  to  witness  the  arrival  of  winter, 
when  the  bountiful  hand  of  Nature  seems  suddenly  to  be 
withdrawn,  it  would  appear  to  us  impossible  that  the 
myriads,  not  only  of  the  races  of  insects  we  have  been 
considering,  but  of  quadrupeds,  birds,  and  reptiles,  which 
swarm  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  the  more  genial 
months  of  summer  and  autumn,  should  be  able,  during 
the  privations  of  this  season,  to  preserve  their  comforts, 
or  even  their  very  existence.  There  is  something  ap- 
palling in  the  idea,  that  such  multitudes  of  creatures 
should  be  called  into  being,  only  to  fall  victims  to  an  in- 
evitable and  cruel  fate ;  and  it  would  seem  to  reflect  on 
the  wisdom  or  goodness  of  Providence,  were  such  antici- 
pations to  be  realized.  But  it  is  not  so  ;  and  the  benefi- 
cent contrivances  by  which  such  a  calamity  is  averted, 
tend,  in  no  slight  degree,  to  intimate  the  presence  and 
operation  of  an  intelligent  Creator. 

With  regard  to  those  animals  which  are  actually  ex- 
posed to  the  storms  of  winter,  let  it  be  observed,  that 
this  season  of  scarcity  and  privation,  is  immediately  pre- 
ceded by  a  period  of  peculiar  plenty,  when  the  edible 
seeds  and  plants  are  in  greatest  abundance  ;  and  that 
these,  although  they  cease  to  vegetate,  do  not,  in  many 
instances,  cease  to  exist  as  articles  of  food.  The  seeds 
and  debris  of  plants  lie  scattered  about  the  ground  in 
great  profusion  ;  and,  though  unnoticed  by  us,  are  easily 
discovered  by  the  microscopic  eye  of  many  of  the  infe- 
rior animals.  The  grass,  too,  which  forms  at  once  the 
soft  carpet,  and  the  favorite  food,  of  so  many  living  crea- 
tures, although  faded,  is  still  spread  over  our  hills  and 
valleys,  and  affords  to  the  larger  classes  of  graminivorous 
animals,  a  more  scanty  indeed,  but  yet  a  considerable 
supply  of  succulent  food.  The  roots  of  once  luxuriant 
plants  and  flowers,  the  fruit  of  the  bramble,  the  hawthorn, 
and  the  eglantine,  [or  wild  rose,]  the  acorn,  the  beech- 
mast,  and  even  the  decaying  leaves  of  the  forest,  all  con- 
tribute their  varied  nourishment  to  different  tribes  of  ani- 
mated beings. 

But  to  this  subject  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion 


202  HYBERNATION. 

more  particularly  to  advert ;  and,  with  reference  to  the 
winged  creation,  we  have  at  present  to  remark,  that  He, 
without  whose  permission  "not  even  a  sparrow  falleth 
to  the  ground,"  and  who  "feedeth  the  ravens  which 
have  neither  storehouse  nor  barn,"  deals  in  another  man- 
ner with  those  tribes,  to  which  subsistence  could  not 
now  be  afforded  in  the  place  of  their  summer  residence  ; 
and,  by  means  of  a  secret  impulse,  not  less  wonderful 
than  beneficent,  bears  them  beyond  the  reach  of  coming 
want,  and  the  chilling  breath  of  a  wintry  sky.  The  Cre- 
ator, as  He  has  furnished  this  class  of  His  living  creatures 
with  wings  to  travel  through  the  air,  where  there  are  nei- 
ther rivers  nor  seas  to  arrest  their  progress,  and  where 
they  can  readily  overtop  even  the  obtruding  mountains, 
has  also  bestowed  on  them  that  mysterious  instinct,  which 
leads  them  to  migrate  to  southern  climes,  where  the  food 
on  which  they  subsist  is  still  abundant,  and  the  arrival  of 
winter  has  only  mitigated  the  intensity  of  the  heat,  and 
rendered  it  to  them  little  else  than  a  continuance  of  the 
blessings  of  summer. 

A  continental  writer  has  attempted  to  define  the  im- 
pulse which  induces  birds  to  migrate ;  but  he  has  been 
forced  to  do  so,  after  minute  attention,  more  by  nega- 
tives than  by  any  positive  and  very  intelligible  assertion 
of  a  principle.  u  It  is  not  want  of  nourishment,"  says 
M.  Brehm,  "for  most  of  them  commence  their  migra- 
tion while  there  is  still  abundance  in  the  country  they 
are  leaving.  Atmospherical  currents  are  not  the  cause, 
nor  do  the  changes  of  season  explain  it,  as  the  greatest 
number  set  off  while  the  weather  is  yet  fine  ;  and  others, 
as  the  larks  and  starlings,  arrive  while  the  season  is  bad. 
Atmospherical  influences  can  only  hasten  the  migration 
in  autumn,  but  must  rather  retard  or  derange  it  in  spring. 
It  is  the  presentiment  of  what  is  to  happen,  which  deter- 
mines birds  to  begin  their  journey.  It  is  an  instinct 
which  urges  them,  and  which  initiates  them  into  the  me- 
teoric changes  that  are  preparing.  They  have  a  particu- 
lar faculty  of  foreseeing  the  rigors  of  the  coming  season  ; 
an  exquisite  sensibility  to  the  perception  of  atmospheri- 
cal changes  which  are  not  yet  arrived,  but  are  approach- 
ing." 


MIGRATION  OF  BIRDS.  203 

The  same  intelligent  and  judicious  writer  states  some 
facts  relative  to  the  manner  of  these  migrations,  which 
he  conceives  to  be  established  ;  and,  as  they  are  curious 
in  themselves,  and  condensed  into  few  words,  we  shall 
make  no  apology  for  quoting  them.  u  Every  bird  has 
its  native  country,  where  it  freely  reproduces,  and  re- 
mains part  of  the  year,  travelling  in  the  remainder. 
Most  birds  spend  half  the  year  at  their  home,  and  pass 
the  other  half  in  travelling.  Some,  particularly  birds  of 
prey,  travel  by  day,  but  by  far  the  greater  part  travel 
by  night ;  and  some  perform  their  migrations  indifferent- 
ly, either  by  day  or  night.  They  seem  to  pass  the  whole 
of  their  migration  without  sleep  ;  for  they  employ  the 
day  in  seeking  their  food,  stopping  in  the  places  where 
they  are  most  likely  to  find  it.  They  commonly  keep 
very  high  in  the  air,  and  always  at  nearly  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  earth,  so  that  they  rise  very  high  over 
mountains,  and  fly  lower  along  valleys.  They  require 
a  wind  that  blows  against  them,  as  a  contrary  wind  as- 
sists in  raising  them.7'* 

In  some  subsequent  papers,  we  shall  follow  out  this 
interesting  subject,  by  entering  into  a  few  details  ;  but  we 
cannot  conclude  this  preliminary  sketch,  without  a  sin- 
gle remark  respecting  the  astonishing  faculty  on  which 
the  migratory  habits  of  birds  are  founded. 

It  would  be  in  vain  to  look  for  a  solution  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  migration  in  the  reasoning  powers  of  the  birds 
themselves.  They  have  obviously  neither  a  faculty  of 
reflection,  nor  a  geographical  nor  meteorological  knowl- 
edge, which  could  enable  them  either  to  plan  or  to 
execute  so  astonishing  an  enterprise  ;  and  we  are  com- 
pelled to  rank  this  means  of  self-preservation  among  the 
numerous  habits  and  practices  of  the  lower  animals, 
which  Brehm  calls  "a  presentiment,"  "  an  instinct," 

*  Quoted  from  Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge,  on  Faculties  of 
Birds,  p.  286.  There  appears  in  these  remarks  rather  too  much  dis- 
position to  generalize.  The  author  of  the  article  from  which  the  quota- 
tion is  extracted,  observes,  that  the  last  statement  must  be  subject  to 
some  very  large  exceptions.  The  same  may  be  probably  said  of  some 
of  the  rest ;  and  particularly  of  the  first,  which  seems  to  aver  that  every 
bird  travels  through  part  of  the  year. 


204  HYBERNATION. 

"  an  exquisite  sensibility,"  and  which  the  immortal 
Newton  justly  and  piously  ascribes  to  "  nothing  else  than 
the  wisdom  and  skill  of  a  powerful  and  everliving  Agent." 


EIGHTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

HYBERNATION. MIGRATION  OF  BIRDS  CONTINUED. 

CURIOSITY  has  long  directed  its  inquiries  to  ascertain 
the  countries  to  which  our  various  birds  of  passage  mi- 
grate during  the  winter  months  ;  but  it  is  mortifying  to 
think  how  little  definite  information  has  been  obtained  on 
so  interesting  a  question.  That  several  of  our  native 
birds  are  capable  of  taking  long  and  rapid  flights,  is  gen- 
erally known.  The  swallow  and  the  hawk,  for  example, 
can  continue  on  the  wing,  without  rest,  for  many  hours, 
and  are  believed  to  be  capable  of  travelling  at  the  amaz- 
ing rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  the  hour.  Sup- 
posing, however,  the  average  rate  of  the  flight  of  birds  to 
be  only  one  third  of  this  velocity,  it  is  obvious  that  they 
may,  without  difficulty,  perform  journeys  to  any  extent 
necessary  for  carrying  them  to  the  warmest  climates. 
From  the  British  shore  to  the  coast  of  France,  the  dis- 
tance is  comparatively  so  trifling,  that,  even  taking  the 
broadest  part  of  the  channel,  it  could,  at  the  moderate 
average  we  have  mentioned,  be  performed  in  little  more 
than  two  hours  ;  and  thence  again,  stretching  through 
the  intervening  countries  of  France  and  Spain,  the  jour- 
ney to  Africa  might  be  accomplished  in  the  short  period 
of  two  or  three  days,  making  all  reasonable  allowance 
for  needful  rest.  Supposing  such  data  to  be  correct,  this 
would  obviously  be  no  formidable  labor  ;  and,  that  we 
have  not  overstated  the  powers  of  the  feathered  race, 
may  be  gathered  from  various  known  facts.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  history,  that  a  falcon  belonging  to  Henry  IV.  of 
France,  having  escaped  from  Fontainbleau,  was  found, 


MIGRATION   OF  BIRDS.  205 

at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours,  at  Malta,  a  distance  of 
about  1350  miles  !  It  has  been  said,  that  birds  generally 
begin  their  flight  with  an  adverse  wind  ;  but,  granting 
this  to  be  the  case,  which  we  may  be  permitted  to  doubt, 
the  intention  probably  is,  that  they  may  thus  be  assisted 
in  rising  into  a  higher  region  of  the  atmosphere,  where 
they  may  expect  to  meet  with  a  counter  current ;  for 
we  can  scarcely  suppose  that  they  purposely  encounter 
the  disadvantage  of  a  permanent  contrary  breeze  ;  and, 
should  the  gale  be  favorable,  they  would,  without  any 
effort,  except  what  was  just  necessary  to  keep  them  afloat, 
be  borne  along,  with  the  moving  element,  at  the  rate  of 
thirty,  forty,  or  even  eighty  miles  an  hour.  As  to  the 
power  of  birds  to  keep,  for  a  lengthened  period,  on  wing, 
many  remarkable  facts  have  been  mentioned.  That  of 
the  blue-bird  of  America  seems  to  be  beyond  dispute, 
which,  though  one  of  the  smaller  species,  passes  and  re- 
passes  annually,  in  great  quantities,  from  the  mainland  to 
the  Bermudas,  a  distance  of  not  less  than  six  hundred 
miles,  without  any  intervening  land.  "Nothing  is  more 
common  in  Pennsylvania,"  says  Wilson,  "than  to  see 
large  flocks  of  these  birds,  in  spring  and  fall,  passing  at 
considerable  heights  in  the  air,  from  the  south  in  the  for- 
mer, and  from  the  north  in  the  latter  season." 

The  distance  to  which  some  birds  migrate  from  their 
native  place,  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  anecdote, 
if  it  be  worthy  of  credit,  related  in  the  article  on  the 
c  Faculties  of  Birds,'  already  alluded  to,  as  found  in 
several  public  journals.  "Last  year,  (1833,)  a  Polish 
gentleman  having  caught  a  stork  upon  his  estate,  near 
Lemberg,  put  round  its  neck  an  iron  collar,  with  this 
inscription,  'Hcec  ciconia  ex  Polonia^  (This  stork  comes 
from  Poland,) — and  set  it  at  liberty.  This  year,  (1834,) 
the  bird  returned  to  the  same  spot,  and  was  again  caught 
by  the  same  person.  It  had  acquired  a  new  collar  of 
gold,  with  the  inscription,  c  India  cum  donis,  remittit 
ciconiam  Polonis^  (India  sends  back  the  stork  to  the 
Poles  with  gifts.)  The  gentleman,  having  shown  the 
inscription  to  his  neighbors,  again  set  the  bird  at  lib- 


erty." 


i.  18  vn. 


206  HYBERNATION. 

We  shall  not  now  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the  swal- 
low, as  well  as  several  other  British  birds,  such  as  the 
nightingale  and  the  quail,  should  find  its  way  to  the  shores 
of  Africa.  Indeed,  if  it  possess  the  strength  and  swift- 
ness of  the  American  blue-bird, — and  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that  it  exceeds  this  point  rather  than  falls 
short, — it  would  require  but  a  small  restingplace  in  its 
passage,  and  arrive  with  ease  on  the  second  day. 

As  to  the  mode  of  migration,  this  differs  in  different 
species,  some  assembling  in  vast  flocks,  and  taking  their 
flight  together,  such  as  swallows,  geese,  &c.,  while  others 
seem  to  prefer  plying  their  solitary  way.  Of  this  latter 
kind  is  the  cuckoo,  which,  indeed,  is  seldom  at  any  time 
observed  in  company  even  with  its  mate.  But,  what 
would  scarcely  be  expected,  and  cannot  easily  be  account- 
ed for  on  the  analogy  of  the  other  habits  of  the  feathered 
family,  there  seem  to  be  some  kinds  of  birds,  the  males 
of  which  take  their  migratory  flight  unaccompanied  by  the 
females,  who  follow  them  at  the  interval  of  some  days  ; 
and  others,  the  females  of  which  lead  the  way,  and  leave 
their  mates  behind.  The  nightingale  and  the  wheatear 
are  said  to  be  of  the  ungallant  habits  of  the  first-men- 
tioned species. 

While  those  birds,  whose  food  fails,  or  becomes  scanty 
in  winter,  take  their  flight,  as  we  have  seen,  to  more 
southern  climates,  their  place  is  partly  supplied  by  the 
emigration  of  winged  strangers  from  the  shores  of  the 
north,  actuated  obviously  by  a  similar  impulse,  namely, 
that  of  escaping  from  a  more  rigorous  region,  and  finding 
a  supply  of  congenial  food,  when  that  of  their  summer 
haunts  is  about  to  be  exhausted.  These  are  chiefly  sea- 
fowl,  or  the  frequenters  of  lakes,  or  the  inhabitants  of 
fens  and  marshes  ;  and  it  is,  doubtless,  the  approach, 
though  not  perhaps  the  actual  arrival,  of  frost,  about  to 
bind  their  more  northerly  places  of  resort  in  icy  fetters, 
and  thus  to  render  them  unfit  for  their  subsistence,  which 
has  made  the  instinct  necessary  that  drives  them  southward . 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  and  what  might  confidently  be 
expected  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  that  although  our 
summer  visitants  are  not  confined  to  any  particular  order 


MIGRATION   OF   BIRDS.  207 

or  tribe,  including,  not  only  both  land  and  water-fowl, 
but  devourers  of  all  different  kinds  of  food,  yet  of  those 
which  reside  amongst  us,  in  winter,  there  are  none  insec- 
tivorous, and  very  few  granivorous.  It  is  also  remarka- 
ble, that,  while  all  our  summer  birds  of  passage  hatch 
their  young  in  this  country,  few,  if  any,  of  the  winter 
kinds  remain  to  execute  this  necessary  duty.  They  leave 
our  shores  before  the  breeding  season  commences,  to 
give  a  birthplace  to  their  progeny  in  their  own  native  re- 
gions of  Sweden,  Norway,  or  Iceland,  some  of  them, 
such  as  the  snow-bunting,  even  approaching  the  Arctic 
Circle,  and  performing  the  office  of  incubation  on  the 
ice-bound  coast  of  Greenland,  or  amidst  the  icebergs  of 
Spitzbergen. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  care  which  Provi- 
dence has  thus  manifested,  at  once  to  preserve  the  winged 
tribes  from  the  fatal  effects  of  a  change  of  climate,  too 
severe  for  their  nature,  and  to  cheer  the  short  summer 
of  the  northern  regions  with  the  presence  of  inhabitants, 
which  only  a  few  days  of  a  stern  polar  winter  would  de- 
stroy. The  spring,  summer,  and  autumn  of  Spitzbergen, 
for  example,  are  all  comprised  in  the  space  of  a  few 
weeks.  Even  so  late  as  the  end  of  April,  the  whole 
island  is  a  wild  and  dreary  waste  of  ice  and  snow  ;  not  a 
sound  of  animated  beings  is  to  be  heard  ;  though  the  sun, 
after  an  absence  of  four  dismal  months,  has  appeared  for 
some  time,  skirting,  with  his  cold  and  languid  lamp,  the 
edge  of  the  bleak  horizon.  Gradually,  however,  he  rises 
higher  in  the  southern  heavens  ;  and  in  May  or  June, 
his  never-setting  orb  sheds  a  genial  warmth  through  the 
placid  air,  and  on  the  smiling  earth.  The  change  is  like 
that  of  magic.  The  snows  dissolve,  and  rush  in  torrents 
to  the  sea.  The  ground  appears,  first  in  spots,  and  then 
in  one  vast  unbroken  extent,  along  the  valleys,  and  even 
on  the  less  elevated  hills.  Instantly  the  powers  of  vege- 
tation burst  forth  with  an  energy  of  which  we  can  scarcely 
form  a  conception.  In  a  few  days,  a  land,  which  seemed 
the  region  of  perpetual  snow,  is  clothed  with  the  loveliest 
verdure,  and  becomes  instinct  with  life.  The  gaunt  bear 
leaves  his  cave,  where  he  had  spent  the  winter  in  a  happy 


208  HYBERNATION. 

torpidity,  while  numerous  insects  start  from  their  winter 
tombs,  and  flutter  gladly  in  the  balmy  atmosphere.  It 
is  at  this  auspicious  period,  that  the  snow-buntings,  and 
perhaps  some  other  winter  birds,  having  lingered  probably 
for  a  time  in  the  intervening  islands  of  Shetland,  Faroe, 
and  Iceland,  arrive  on  this  awakened  coast,  which  they 
render  vocal  with  their  song  ;  and,  while  they  find  a  con- 
genial climate,  and  food  adapted  to  their  nature,  im- 
mediately begin  the  important  offices  required  for  the 
continuance  of  the  species,  obtaining,  in  this  remote  isl- 
and, a  retreat  comparatively  free  from  the- molestation 
of  their  enemies.  In  a  few  weeks,  the  sun  begins  again 
to  lose  its  genial  warmth,  and  symptoms  of  approaching 
winter  warn  these  annual  visitants  to  return  to  a  more 
temperate  climate  ;  but  this  interval  has  sufficed,  not  only 
for  the  hatching  of  the  brood,  but  for  their  being  reared 
and  cherished  till  they  have  acquired  a  strength  of  wing 
enabling  them  to  accompany  their  adventurous  parents, 
in  shaping  their  pathless  way  for  hundreds  of  miles  across 
a  stormy  and  apparently  shoreless  ocean,  without  a  single 
landmark  in  the  distant  horizon  to  direct  their  course. 

The  case  of  the  little  snow-bunting  is  only  a  particular 
instance,  though  a  striking  one,  of  that  wonderful  instinct 
which  belongs  to  so  many  of  the  feathered  family.  It 
marks,  in  a  very  lively  manner,  the  peculiar  features, 
the  extent,  and  the  beneficent  intentions  of  this  impulse 
of  a  wonder-working  power  ;  and,  while  it  fills  the  pious 
mind  with  an  undefinable  feeling  of  awe,  under  the  sense 
of  a  present  Deity,  directs  it  to  the  cheering  doctrines, 
and  blessed  promises,  of  Revealed  Truth,  and  may  well 
serve  to  increase  its  confidence  in  the  never-failing  pro- 
tection of  a  reconciled  Father,  who  bestows  those  secret 
and  mysterious  influences  of  Divine  grace,  through  which 
the  Christian  is  led  "  by  a  way  which  he  knows  not," 
from  the  wintry  scenes  of  earth,  to  the  glories  of  an  eternal 
summer. 

The  snow-bird  of  America  is  another  of  the  feathered 
tribe,  which  the  hand  of  a  beneficent  Providence  drives 
northwards  to  fulfil  some  important  end.  When  the 
weather  begins  to  be  warm,  the  snow-bird  moves  towards 


BIRDS  WHICH  PARTIALLY  MIGRATE.  209 

the  colder  regions,  and  arrives  about  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Factory  in  June,  whence  it  continues  its  course  still  further 
north,  where  it  breeds.  This  kind  is  so  numerous  as  to 
be  found  scattered  over  the  greater  part,  probably  the 
whole,  of  the  northern  regions  of  North  America,  in  great 
profusion.  Speaking  of  this  remarkable  species,  Mr. 
Wilson  says,  u  In  the  circuitous  route  I  travelled,  of  more 
than  1800  miles,  I  never  passed  a  day,  and  scarcely  a  mile, 
without  seeing  numbers  of  these  birds,  and  frequently  large 
flocks  of  several  thousands." 

The  impulse  which  urges  these  tenants  of  the  air  to 
seek  the  wilds  of  the  north,  is  evidently  connected  with 
the  instinct  which  leads  them  to  propagate  the  species  ; 
and  indeed  some  naturalists  are  of  opinion,  that,  in  all 
instances  of  migration,  the  same  instinct  operates.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  these  little  creatures 
find  a  more  secure  retreat  in  the  countries  near  the  Arctic 
Circle,  for  the  important  purpose  of  incubation,  than 
could  readily  be  chosen  in  the  circle  of  their  summer 
haunts.  But,  while  they  thus  escape  many  formidable 
enemies,  they  are  probably  not  altogether  free  from  dan- 
ger ;  for  their  appearance  will  be  hailed  as  a  seasonable 
boon  of  Providence,  by  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  these 
inhospitable  regions,  who  must  find,  in  this  annual  sup- 
ply of  dainty  food,  thus  mysteriously  sent  them  by  an 
Unseen  Hand,  an  agreeable  and  wholesome  variety,  after 
being  confined,  during  the  dismal  winter  months,  to  the 
unvarying  sameness  of  that  coarse  and  oily  nourishment, 
which  their  rude  skill  extracts  from  the  surrounding  seas. 


EIGHTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

HYBERNATION. BIRDS  WHICH  PARTIALLY  MIGRATE. 

THERE  are  some  of  the  British  feathered  tribes,  which, 
although  they  do  not  pass  beyond  the  sea,  are  yet,  to  a 

18* 


210  HYBERNATION. 

certain  extent,  migratory  within  the  bounds  of  the  island. 
These  are  chiefly  influenced  in  their  change  of  residence, 
by  the  desire  of  finding  a  more  remote  retreat,  for  the 
purpose  of  incubation,  or  of  acquiring  a  more  plentiful 
supply  of  food,  or,  perhaps,  in  some  instances,  a  more 
sheltered  place  of  residence  during  the  stormy  months. 
"Of  these,"  says  Mr.  Rennie,  "may  be  mentioned, 
in  our  country,  the  curlew  and  golden-plover,  which  in 
winter  reside  chiefly  along  the  shores,  while  in  summer 
they  betake  themselves  to  the  inland  lakes  and  moors  ; 
the  lapwing,  which  seems  to  move  northwards  in  winter  ; 
the  linnet,  which  in  that  season  deserts  the  hilly  re- 
gions, and  approaches  the  habitations  of  man  ;  and  the 
dipper,  which  in  summer  ascends  the  streams,  towards 
their  sources." 

But  it  is  in  continental  countries,  and  especially  in 
America,  where  interminable  forests  are  mingled  with 
districts  and  bounded  by  regions  cultivated  by  the  labor 
of  man,  and  teeming  with  crops  of  grain,  that  the  most 
remarkable  instances  of  this  kind  of  partial  migration 
take  place.  The  countless  multitude  of  pigeons  in  that 
country,  which,  at  particular  seasons,  shift  their  residence 
in  continuous  and  almost  interminable  flocks,  have  long 
been  the  admiration  of  travellers.  Audubon,  in  his  usu- 
al graphic  manner,  describes  a  flight  of  this  tribe,  of 
which  he  was  an  eyewitness.  "In  the  autumn  of  1813," 
says  he,  "I  left  my  house  at  Henderson,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio,  on  my  way  to  Louisville.  In  passing  over 
the  Barrens,  a  few  miles  below  Hardensburgh,  I  observ- 
ed the  pigeons  flying  from  northeast  to  southwest  in 
greater  numbers  than  I  thought  I  had  ever  seen  them  be- 
fore ;  and  feeling  an  inclination  to  count  the  flocks  that 
might  pass  within  the  reach  of  my  eye  in  one  hour,  I  dis- 
mounted, seated  myself  on  an  eminence,  and  began  to 
mark  with  my  pencil,  making  a  dot  for  every  flock  that 
passed.  In  a  short  time,  finding  the  task  that  I  had  un- 
dertaken impracticable,  as  the  birds  poured  on  in  count- 
less multitudes,  I  rose,  and  counting  the  dots  then  put 
down,  found  163  had  been  made  in  twenty-one  minutes. 


BIRDS   WHICH  PARTIALLY  MIGRATE.  211 

I  travelled  on,  and  still  met  more,  the  further  they  pro- 
ceeded. The  air  was  literally  filled  with  pigeons  ;  the 
light  of  noonday  was  obscured  as  by  an  eclipse  ;  the 
dung  fell  in  spots,  not  unlike  melting  flakes  of  snow; 
and  the  continued  buzz  of  wings  had  a  tendency  to  lull 
my  senses  to  repose."  "  Before  sunset,"  he  adds  after- 
terwards,  "  I  reached  Louisville,  distant  from  Hardens- 
burgh  fifty-five  miles.  The  pigeons  were  still  passing  in 
undiminished  numbers,  and  continued  to  do  so  for  three 
days  in  succession."  *  *  -*  u  The  atmosphere, 
during  this  time,  was  strongly  impregnated  with  the  pecu- 
liar odor  which  emanates  from  the  species." 

Though  not  entirely  to  the  point  we  are  considering, 
we  willingly  yield  to  the  temptation  of  inserting  a  striking 
passage  which  occurs  in  this  account : — "I  cannot  de- 
scribe to  you  the  extreme  beauty  of  their  aerial  evolu- 
tions, when  a  hawk  chanced  to  press  upon  the  rear  of  a 
flock.  At  once,  like  a  torrent,  and  with  a  noise  like 
thunder,  they  rushed  into  a  compact  mass,  pressing  upon 
each  other  towards  the  centre.  In  these  almost  solid 
masses,  they  darted  forward  in  undulating  and  angular 
lines,  descended,  and  swept  close  over  the  earth,  with 
inconceivable  velocity,  mounted  perpendicularly,  so  as 
to  resemble  a  vast  column,  and,  when  high,  were  seen 
wheeling  and  twisting  within  their  continued  lines,  which 
then  resembled  the  coils  of  a  gigantic  serpent. " 

These  flights  are,  doubtless,  in  search  of  food,  and 
may  throw  some  light  on  the  nature  of  the  principle  by 
which  migrations  are  influenced,  as  they  are  obviously 
regulated  by  an  impulse,  if  not  observing  and  intelligent, 
at  least  capable  of  being  adapted  to  new  circumstances, 
and  of  taking  advantage  of  new  discoveries.  Catesby 
mentions,  that  since  the  discovery  of  America  has  intro- 
duced crops  of  foreign  grain  into  that  once  savage  and 
uncultivated  country,  not  only  have  these  comparatively 
novel  articles  of  food  become  the  familiar  resource  of 
native  birds  from  distant  regions,  but  various  species  of 
the  winged  tribes,  naturally  strangers  to  that  continent, 
have,  by  some  means,  become  aware  of  the  existence  of 
such  exotic  stores,  and  arrive  annually  in  numerous  flocks, 


HYBERNATION. 

at  the  proper  season,  to  avail  themselves  of  this  new 
provision  for  their  wants.  The  rice-bird  and  the  wheat- 
bird  are  of  this  description.  The  latter,  if  Catesby's 
observations  be  correct,  has  taken  this  new  course  of 
migration  across  the  sea  from  the  island  of  Cuba,  between 
one  and  two  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  nearest  point 
of  the  mainland,  leaving  that  region  immediately  after  the 
rice  harvest,  and  alighting  in  Carolina  in  time  to  partake 
of  the  rice  crop  in  that  latter  climate,  and  afterwards  of 
the  ripening  wheat  in  the  more  northerly  plains  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  is,  indeed,  but  a  few  years,  since  the  wheat- 
birds  first  found  their  way  to  this  latter  State,  where'they 
now  regularly  flock  at  the  proper  season,  in  such  num- 
bers, as  materially  to  interfere  with  the  gains  of  the  far- 
mer. 

This  is  a  very  interesting  view  of  the  nature  of  the 
winged  family,  and  gives  rise  to  some  curious  and  diffi- 
cult questions.  By  what  means  do  birds  ascertain  the 
introduction  of  their  proper  food  into  these  new  and  dis- 
tant regions  ?  How  do  they  communicate  the  information 
to  their  fellows,  after  they  have  obtained  it  ?  And  when 
once  known,  by  what  faculty  is  it  perpetuated  in  the  in- 
dividuals, and  transmitted  to  their  posterity  ?  Are  we  to 
believe  that,  like  man,  they  make  distant  voyages  of  dis- 
covery in  search  of  new  stores  ;  that  they  possess  a 
faculty  resembling  that  of  speech,  by  which  they  convey 
a  knowledge  of  the  discoveries  they  have  made;  and  that 
they  are  furnished  with  memories  sufficiently  retentive, 
and  reasoning  powers  sufficiently  strong,  to  enable  them, 
from  year  to  year,  as  the  season  returns,  to  profit  by  the 
new  knowledge  they  have  acquired?  This  seems  to  be 
Catesby's  opinion  ;  and  it  would,  doubtless,  readily  ac- 
count for  these  and  various  other  phenomena  of  a  simi- 
lar nature,  which  may  occur  to  the  inquiring  mind  ;  but 
it  seems  to  be  so  inconsistent  with  what  is  known  of  the 
limited  mental  power  of  birds,  that  it  will  not  readily  be 
assented  to,  and  we  must,  probably,  look  for  the  true  so- 
lution in  some  qualities  bearing  more  resemblance  to  the 
admitted  faculties  of  the  race.  If,  however,  we  attempt 
to  pursue  the  inquiry  further,  we  shall,  perhaps,  here,  as 


MIGRATION  OF  QUADRUPEDS.  213 

in  a  thousand  other  instances,  land  ourselves  in  perplex- 
ity and  darkness,  and  be  forced  to  rest  in  the  humbling 
conviction,  that  such  knowledge  is  too  high  for  us.  When 
we  become  aware  that  the  migratory  impulse  varies  ac- 
cording to  circumstances,  and  is  modified  by  changes  in 
climate  or  in  food,  whether  dependent  on  natural  causes 
or  on  the  labors  of  civilized  man,  we  seem  to  have  ac- 
quired a  glimmering  of  something  like  a  principle  of  rea- 
son as  applicable  to  that  impulse.  But  when,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  consider  the  extent  to  which  that  reasoning 
principle  must  necessarily  be  carried,  before  it  can  ac- 
count for  the  phenomena, — when  we  recollect,  that  it 
must  include  some  high  powers  of  memory,  reflection, 
and  judgement, as  well  as  considerable  geographical  knowl- 
edge, and  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  progress  of 
time,  as  connected  with  the  changes  of  the  seasons  and 
the  ripening  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  it  seems  altogeth- 
er impossible  to  maintain  this  ground  ;  and  we  feel  com- 
pelled to  fall  back  on  our  first  conclusions,  and  to  resolve 
the  whole,  or  at  least  by  far  the  greater  part,  into  a  pow- 
er, the  nature  of  which  has  hitherto  eluded  all  attempts 
to  analyze  it,  and  our  ignorance  of  which,  we  endeavor 
to  conceal  under  the  name  of  instinct. 

Here,  then,  we  find  new  cause  to  look  up  with  awe 
and  adoration  to  the  mysterious  but  beneficent  operations 
of  that  unseen,  omnipresent  Intelligence,  who  causes 
a  the  stork  in  the  heaven  to  know  her  appointed  times, 
and  the  turtle,  and  the  crane,  and  the  swallow,  to  observe 
the  time  of  their  coming." 


EIGHTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

HYBERNATION.— MIGRATION  OF  QUADRUPEDS. 

THE  care  of  Providence  in  securing  the  subsistence 
and  comfort  of  quadrupeds  in  the  winter  months,  is   not 


214  HYBERNATION. 

less  remarkable  than  that  which  is  displayed  towards  the 
feathered  creation  ;  and  the  modifications  of  their  hy- 
bernating  instincts,  and  of  other  arrangements,  exhibit 
equal  indications  of  wise  and  beneficent  design.  A  strik- 
ing example  of  that  adaptation  of  propensities  to  external 
circumstances,  which  is  to  be  found  characterizing  the  in- 
stincts of  all  the  orders  of  organized  beings,  occurs  among 
the  brute  tribes,  in  the  limited  extent  of  their  migratory 
habits.  Being  destitute  of  wings,  which  transport  the  va- 
rious species  of  birds  so  expeditiously  and  safely  through 
the  air,  they  cannot  leave  their  native  haunts  without  dif- 
ficulty and  danger,  arising  from  the  rugged  and  intersect- 
ed nature  of  the  earth  to  which  they  are  confined,  and  the 
fury  of  the  enemies  they  would  meet  with  in  a  journey 
necessarily  tedious,  and  often  unsheltered.  Some  quad- 
rupeds, however,  do  possess  this  instinct  in  situations  fa- 
vorable for  its  exercise.  In  Great  Britain,  for  exam- 
ple, the  stag  and  the  roebuck  leave  the  higher  regions 
on  the  approach  of  winter,  and  seek  protection  in  the  more 
sheltered  plains.  But  it  is  in  continental  countries,  where 
larger  space  is  afforded,  and  where  the  variety  of  climate 
gives  freer  scope  for  the  developement  of  the  principle, 
that  migratory  habits  are  to  be  chiefly  expected,  and  it  is 
there  that  they  actually  exist  to  the  greatest  extent.  I 
shall  confine  myself,  on  this  subject,  to  the  quotation  of 
an  interesting  passage  in  Mr.  Kirby's  Bridgewater  Trea- 
tise, which  occurs  under  the  head  of  Geographical  Dis- 
tribution of  Animals. 

u\Ve  are  next  to  consider  those  migrations  that  take 
place  periodically,  and  usually  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year  ;  the  general  intention  of  which  appears  to  be  a  sup- 
ply of  food,  and  often  a  temperature  best  suited  to  repro- 
duction ;  Providence,  in  this,  taking  care,  that  their  in- 
stincts shall  stimulate  them  to  change  their  quarters,  when 
these  two  objects  can  be  answered  at  the  same  time,  and 
by  a  single  removal. 

"  In  North  America,  that  ferocious  and  lion-like  ani- 
mal, the  bison,  called  there  the  buffalo,  forms  regular  mi- 
grations, in  immense  herds,  from  north  to  south,  and  from 
the  mountains  to  the  plains  ;  and,  after  a  certain  period,  re- 


MIGRATION  OF  QUADRUPEDS.  215 

turns  back  again.  Salt  springs,  usually  called  salt-licks 
or  salines,  found  in  a  clay  compact  enough  for  potter's 
clay,  are  much  frequented  by  these  animals  ;  whence  they 
are  called  buffalo  salt-licks.  Dr.  Richardson  informs  me, 
that  the  periodical  movements  of  these  animals  are  regu- 
lated almost  solely  by  the  pastures  ;  when  a  fire  has  spread 
over  the  prairies,  it  is  succeeded  by  a  fine  growth  of  ten- 
der grass,  which  they  are  sure  to  visit.  How  the  bison 
discovers  that  this  has  taken  place,  seems  not  easily  ac- 
counted for  ;  perhaps  stragglers  from  the  great  herds, 
when  food  grows  scarce,  may  be  instrumental  to  this. 

u  The  musk-ox,  a  ruminating  animal,  between  the  ox 
and  sheep,  has  the  same  habit,  extending  its  migratory 
movements  as  far  as  Melville,  and  other  islands  of  the 
Polar  Sea,  where  it  arrives  about  the  middle  of  May  ; 
and  going  southward  towards  the  end  of  September,  where 
it  has  been  seen  as  low  as  latitude  sixty-seven  degrees 
north,  which,  as  Dr.  Richardson  observes,  approaches  the 
northern  limit  of  the  bison.  Its  food,  like  that  of  the  rein- 
deer, or  caribou,  is  grass  in  the  summer,  and  lichens  in  the 
winter.  Its  hair  is  very  long  ;  and, — as  well  as  that  of  the 
bison,  which  has  been  manufactured,  both  in  England  and 
America,  into  cloth, — might  be  woven  into  useful  articles. 
This  animal  inhabits,  strictly,  the  country  of  the  Esqui- 
maux, and  may  be  regarded  as  the  gift  of  a  kind  Provi- 
dence to  that  people,  who  call  it  oomingmak,  and  not 
only  eat  its  flesh,  but  also  the  contents  of  its  stomach, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  rein-deer,  which  they  call  norrooks, 
which,  consisting  of  lichens  and  other  vegetable  substan- 
ces, as  Dr.  Richardson  remarks,  are  more  easily  digest- 
ed by  the  human  stomach  when  they  are  mixed  with  the 
salivary  and  gastric  juices  of  a  ruminating  animal. 

u  The  wild  rein-deer,  in  North  America,  in  the  sum- 
mer," as  the  excellent  man  and  author  lately  mentioned, 
states,  "  seek  the  coast  of  the  Arctic  Seas.  It  is  singu- 
lar, that  the  females,  driven  from  the  woods  by  the  mus- 
quitoes,  migrate  thither  before  the  males,  generally  in  the 
month  of  May,  (some  say  in  April  and  March  ;)  while 
the  latter  do  not  begin  their  march  till  towards  the  end 
of  June.  At  this  time  the  sun  has  dried  up  the  lichens 


216  HYBERNAT10N. 

on  the  barren  grounds  ;  and  the  moist  pastures  in  the  val- 
leys of  the  coasts  and  islands*  of  the  above  seas,  afford 
them  sufficient  food.  Soon  after  their  arrival,  the  females 
drop  their  young.  They  commence  their  return  to  the 
south  in  September,  and  reach  the  vicinity  of  the  woods 
towards  the  end  of  October.  In  the  woods,  they  feed 
on  lichens  which  hang  from  the  trees,  and  on  the  long 
grass  of  the  swamps.  The  males  do  not  usually  go  so 
far  north  as  the  females.  Columns,  consisting  of  eight 
or  ten  thousand  of  these  caribous,  so  numerous  are  they 
in  North  America,  may  be  seen  annually  passing  from 
north  to  south  in  the  spring,  infested  and  attacked  in  their 
progress  by  numbers  of  wolves,  foxes,  and  other  preda- 
ceous  quadrupeds,  which  attack  and  devour  the  strag- 
glers. 

"  The  prong-horned  antelope, f  as  well  as  the  rein-deer, 
appears  to  go  northward  in  the  summer,  and  return  to 
the  south  in  winter. 

"  Dr.  Richardson  remarks  to  me  in  a  letter  : — c  The 
musk-ox  and  rein-deer  feed  chiefly  on  lichens,  and  there- 
fore frequent  the  barren  lands  and  primitive  rocks,  which 
are  clothed  with  these  plants.  They  resort,  in  winter, 
when  the  snow  is  deep,  to  the  skirts  of  the  woods,  and 
feed  on  the  lichens  winch  hang  from  the  trees ;  but,  on  ev- 
ery favorable  change  of  weather,  they  return  to  the  barren 
grounds.  In  summer,  they  migrate  to  the  moist  pastures 
on  the  seacoast,  and  eat  grass ;  because  the  lichens  on 
the  barren  lands  are  then  parched  by  the  drought,  and  too 
hard  to  be  eaten.  The  young  grass  is,  I  suppose,  better 
fitted  for  the  fawns,  which  are  dropt  about  the  time  the 
deer  reach  the  coast.'  In  all  this,  we  see  the  hand  of 
Providence,  directing  them  to  those  places  where  the 
necessary  sustenance  may  be  had." 

Mr.  Kirby  might  have  added  to  this  latter  observation, 
another,  which  seems  to  be  not  less  striking,  and  which 
we  have  already  noticed,  in  reference  to  some  of  the  wing- 

*  There  seems  to  be  a  trifling  inaccuracy  here.  In  the  month  of  June, 
the  ice  has  ceased  to  bridge  the  northern  seas  ;  and  the  males  cannot 
reach  the  islands  if  they  do  not  arrive  sooner  than  this  period. — H.  D. 

t  Antelope  furcata. 


MIGRATION  OF  QUADRUPEDS.  217 

ed  tribes  ; — that  the  chief  reason  why  the  rein-deer  is 
taught  to  seek  the  north  for  the  birthplace  of  its  young, 
is,  that  there  the  latter  are  comparatively  unmolested  by 
those  ferocious  beasts  of  prey,  which  inhabit  the  more 
southerly  regions,  and  which  would  assuredly  greatly  di- 
minish their  numbers,  if  they  did  not  entirely  exterminate 
the  race,  were  the  fawns  to  reside  in  the  neighborhood  of 
these  hordes  of  enemies,  before  they  had  acquired  suffi- 
cient swiftness  and  strength  to  elude  pursuit.  This  pro- 
vision of  Providence  is  truly  wonderful.  At  the  time 
appointed  for  the  dropping  of  their  young,  the  food  of  the 
rein-deer,  as  well  as  of  the  musk-ox,  is  to  be  found  in 
abundance,  at  a  distance  from  the  chief  haunts  of  their 
natural  enemies  ;  and  thus  these  peaceful  tribes  are  led, 
by  a  kind  of  double  instinct,  to  the  preservation  of  their 
species,  both  as  regards  its  maintenance  and  reproduc- 
tion. 

In  speaking  of  the  migrations  of  the  rein-deer,  I  must 
not  omit  to  mention  a  striking  peculiarity,  which  belongs 
to  this  as  well  as  some  other  of  the  more  intelligent 
species  of  animals  :  their  motions  appear  to  be  directed 
by  leaders  of  their  own  species,  whom  they  implicitly 
obey,  and  who  head  their  march.  As  they  are  gregari- 
ous animals,  such  an  instinct  must  be  exceedingly  useful 
to  them,  in  the  unfrequented  wildernesses  through  which 
they  travel.  They  will  thus  profit  by  the  experience  of 
their  captain,  who  is  always  probably  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  experienced  of  the  herd  ;  for,  that  many  of  the 
inferior  animals  do  learn  by  experience,  and  thus  show  a 
sagacity  above  mere  instinct,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt. 
The  same  subjection  to  leaders,  in  their  movements,  is 
observable  in  the  elephant.  The  Hottentots  told  Mr. 
Pringle,  that,  in  the  dense  thorny  forests,  the  great  bull 
elephants  always  march  in  the  van,  bursting  through  the 
jungle,  treading  down  the  prickly  brushwood,  and  break- 
ing off  with  their  trunks  the  larger  branches  that  obstruct 
their  passage,  while  the  females  and  younger  part  follow 
them  in  single  file. 

That  the  younger  or  more  feeble  should  voluntarily 
subject  themselves  to  the  guidance  of  the  stronger,  indi- 
i.  19  vn. 


218  HYBERNATION. 

cates  a  fine  instinct ;  but  it  is  not  so  surprising  in  the 
case  of  the  elephant,  where  it  would  appear  that  all  the 
largest  males  of  the  herd  take  the  precedence,  as  it  is  in 
the  instance  of  the  rein-deer,  who  seem  to  select  a  single 
leader,  and  obey  him,  as  if  he  were  invested  with  lawful 
authority.  By  what  principle,  whether  of  instinct  or  of 
something  approaching  nearer  to  the  faculty  of  reason, 
this  sagacious  race  look  up,  with  common  consent,  to  one 
individual  of  the  herd,  it  seems  difficult  to  determine  ; 
but,  however  this  may  be,  it  does  not  less  display  the 
paternal  care  of  the  Creator.  Something  approaching 
to  the  same  habit  is  found  in  other  gregarious  animals. 
The  Mongalian  antelopes  have  their  leader,  whom  they 
follow  in  regular  files.  The  old  ram  of  the  flock,  the 
bull  among  the  kine,  the  dunghill  cock  who  has  proved 
his  superior  prowess  and  courage,  each,  in  its  own  de- 
partment, exercises  a  sway, — approaching,  in  the  last 
mentioned,  to  a  species  of  petty  despotism, — which  indi- 
cates an  inferior  degree  of  the  same  principle.  Indeed, 
were  we  better  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  gregarious 
animals,  the  remarkable  property  of  subjection  to  a  supe- 
rior, would  probably  be  found  to  be  far  more  extended, 
than  may  at  first  sight  appear  ;  for  wherever  living  beings 
congregate  and  act  in  concert,  some  presiding  intellect, 
if  not  absolutely  necessary,  is  yet  of  great  utility  ;  and 
it  is  a  new  instance  of  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of 
the  Creator,  that,  where  He  has  been  pleased  to  bestow 
the  social  instinct,  He  should  also  have  so  generally  be- 
stowed a  quality,  by  which  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
respective  communities  are  essentially  promoted;  and 
that,  among  the  various  tribes  of  lower  animals,  from  the 
mighty  elephant  to  the  tiny  bee, — the  most  wonderful 
of  them  all, — the  important  principle  of  subordination 
should  be  so  widely  diffused. 


CHRISTMAS-DAY.  219 


EIGHTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

CHRISTMAS-DAY. 

THIS  day  is  usually  consecrated  to  the  remembrance 
or  solemn  celebration  of  our  blessed  Lord's  nativity. 
Though  not  disposed  to  look  with  favor  on  the  pompous 
ceremonials  with  which  it  is  greeted  by  some  branches 
of  the  church,  even  were  it  clearly  proved  to  be  the 
true  anniversary,  we  yet  deem  it  a  profitable  and  pleasing 
duty  to  turn  our  thoughts  this  morning  to  the  great  event* 
that  occurred  at  Bethlehem,  and  that  was  destined  to 
usher  in  the  dawn  of  our  glorious  day. 

Who,  then,  was  He  that  was  born  at  Bethlehem,  and 
whose  birth  was  attended  by  every  circumstance  of  pov- 
erty and  meanness?  The  humble  mother,  the  lowly 
stable,  the  manger,  the  poorness  and  obscurity  of  the 
place,  the  absence  of  all  public  rejoicing,  declared  it  to 
be  no  earthly  prince  that  was  born,  the  joy  of  his  scep- 
tered  father,  and  the  hope  of  nations  ;  but  only  an  infant 
who  might,  in  future  years,  have  nowhere  to  lay  his  head, 
and  might  live  and  die  unknown.  Yet  the  bursting  of 
heaven's  gates  at  the  midnight  hour ;  the  glad  announce- 
ment to  the  awe-struck  shepherds  ;  and  the  enraptured 
song  of  the  heavenly  host  singing,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men ;" 
the  miraculous  star,  and  the  wise  men  of  the  East  bring- 
ing costly  gifts,  and  offering  them  in  lowly  reverence, — 
proclaimed  the  advent  of  that  celestial  King  who  was  to 
rule  in  Zion,  even  of  the  beloved  Son  of  God,  in  whom 
He  was  well  pleased.  Humble  was  the  guise  in  which 
the  Messiah  appeared,  and  unheeded  by  a  sinful  world 
the  hour  of  His  birth  ;  but  a  few  rays  of  His  glory  were 
permitted  thus  early  to  shine  forth,  and  declare  to  a 
chosen  band  the  secret  of  His  greatness.  The  tongue  of 
man  was  silent  on  that  most  joyful  of  all  occasions ;  but 


220  CHRISTMAS-DAY. 

angel  harps  were  visibly  struck  to  celebrate  the  new-born 
Saviour  of  Mankind. 

And  what  was  the  life,  on  earth,  of  Him  who  thus  came 
in  glory  and  humiliation  ?  It  was  that  of  a  Deliverer  of 
man.  But  did  He  overturn  the  thrones  of  blaspheming 
tyranny,  and  hurl  to  the  dust,  with  an  arm  of  physical 
power,  the  vain  pride  of  mortals  ?  Did  He  trample  down 
the  haughty  and  the  great,  and  exalt  the  humble  poor  ? 
Did  He  take  signal  vengeance  upon  the  crafty  and  blood- 
stained ministers  of  idolatry,  and  vindicate  the  majesty 
of  Jehovah  by  the  visible  overthrow  of  their  hideous 
altars  and  shrines  ?  No  ;  though  the  greatest  of  Deliverers, 
He  did  none  of  these  things.  He  was  the  meekest  of 
the  sons  of  men.  He  went  about  continually  doing  good  ; 
and,  wherever  He  went,  He  scattered  the  heavenly  light 
of  truth.  Along  with  the  benevolence  and  the  wisdom, 
He  displayed  also  the  power  of  God.  He  proclaimed  to 
all  that  would  come  unto  Him,  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  and 
He  healed  the  most  loathsome  and  fatal  bodily  diseases, 
in  token  of  His  power  to  heal  the  great  maladies  of  the 
soul.  It  was  also  His  office  uto  bring  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light;"  and  to  prove,  by  the  clearest  evidence, 
that  resurrection  which  He  taught,  He  raised  the  corpse, 
already  mouldering  in  its  decay,  and  gave  back  the  lost 
and  the  lamented  to  their  weeping  friends.  He  poured 
on  the  sightless  eyeball  the  light  of  day,  and  on  the  long- 
benighted  soul  the  cheering  radiance  of  mercy  and  truth. 
Every  word  and  action  showed  His  love  to  man,  and  was 
fraught  with  the  sublimest  meaning. 

Such  was  the  life  of  the  Redeemer,  as  it  is  recorded 
by  His  chosen  followers, — a  life  which,  though  sketched, 
as  it  were,  in  outline,  yet  carries  upon  it  the  significant 
stamp  of  Divinity.  A  celebrated  infidel,*  apparently  over- 
powered, for  a  moment,  by  the  moral  beauty  and  har- 
mony of  the  New  Testament,  in  one  of  his  works  de- 
clares that  "the  inventor  of  the  Gospel  would  be  a  more 
astonishing  character  than  the  Hero."  A  more  striking 
sentiment  could  scarcely  have  proceeded  from  the  lips 

*  Rousseau. 


CHRISTMAS-DAY.  221 

of  a  believer  in  our  holy  faith.  Yes  !  the  character  of 
Jesus  was  unimaginable  by  mortal  man.  That  humility, 
sustained  by  Divine  dignity  ;  that  benevolence,  so  free 
from  ostentation ;  that  prudence,  so  closely  conjoined 
with  courage  ;  that  compassion  for  human  weakness  and 
suffering,  so  far  removed  from  any  tolerance  of  human 
sin  ;  that  patience  and  benignity  ;  that  holiness  and  love, 
which  adorn  the  Saviour's  walk  on  earth, — lay  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  finite  conception.  It  is  the  province 
of  imagination,  when  called  into  play  by  some  powerful 
emotion,  to  form  sublime  or  beautiful  ideal  pictures  from 
the  stores  furnished  by  our  perception  of  material  things  ; 
to  preside  over  the  creations  of  the  painter  or  the  poet, 
who  study  nature  and  human  life,  in  order  to  supply  their 
prevailing  mental  power  with  appropriate  imagery.  Ima- 
gination can  only  arrange  into  new  combinations  the 
ideas  drawn  from  this  living  world  ;  its  range  is  limited 
by  our  experience  ;  the  groups  and  images  it  creates  may 
be  new,  but  the  constituent  parts  of  these  are  solely  de- 
rived from  what  we  see  and  hear.  Magnificent  and  glow- 
ing may  be  the  ideal  scenery  it  draws, — of  superhuman 
excellence  the  moral  hero  that  it  places  before  the  eye 
of  the  mind  ;  but  the  elements  of  the  one  and  of  the 
other  are  merely  of  this  earth,  and  are  marked  with  the 
imperfection  and  mortal  stain  of  all  things  earthly.  The 
fine  creations  of  a  Virgil  or  a  Plato  are  palpably  but  the 
imaginings  of  beings  with  limited  faculties,  and  corrupt 
moral  natures,  whose  experience  is  only  mundane,  and 
whose  fancy  is  fed  with  the  imagery  of  a  sinful  world. 
Who,  then,  could  have  conceived  the  character  of  the 
Son  of  God,  manifested  on  earth,  in  human  form  ?  The 
materials  of  such  a  conception  were  unknown.  They 
lay  in  the  bosom  of  the  Eternal  Father,  unseen,  unheard 
of,  by  mortal  eye  or  ear.  How  could  that  Divine  love, 
which  glowed  in  the  bosom  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  have 
been  imagined  by  one  in  whose  heart  dwelt  pride,  hatred, 
and  all  evil  passions  ?  Can  it  even  yet  be  fathomed  by 
the  loftiest  intellect  ?  Who  could,  in  a  few  simple  words, 
have  drawn  a  picture  of  the  human  heart,  the  fidelity  of 
which  all  are  at  once  compelled  to  own  ?  Who  could 
19* 


222  CHRISTMAS-DAY. 

have  opened  such  a  spring  of  consolation  as  that  unlocked 
by  the  man  Christ  Jesus  ?  Who  could  have  discovered 
such  a  simple  and  efficacious  remedy  for  the  great  disease 
of  our  nature  as  that  contained  in  the  Gospel  ?  Who 
could  have  presented  such  objects  to  love,  such  promises 
to  hope,  such  solemn  and  elevating  mysteries  to  faith  ? 
The  Gospel  an  invention  !  Jesus  Christ  a  fictitious  char- 
acter !  This  would  be  a  miracle  of  miracles  ;  a  phenome- 
non wholly  incomprehensible  ;  at  utter  variance  with  all 
we  know  of  the  human  mind ;  plainly  transcending,  in- 
deed, its  loftiest  efforts ;  an  inscrutable  enigma  in  the 
history  of  man. 

Who  can  describe  the  consequences  of  the  Redeem- 
er's life  and  death  ?  The  tongues  of  angels  would  falter 
and  fail  in  the  attempt.  The  world,  with  all  its  sin  and 
suffering,  exists  only  that  it  may  become  the  wide  thea- 
tre of  his  glory.  The  light  from  Heaven  that  first  shone 
forth  among  the  mountains  of  Judea,  though  it  has  often 
been  obscured,  and  even  disastrously  eclipsed,  now  shines, 
and  will  continue  to  shine,  with  a  far-spreading  radiance. 
Darkness  is  flying  before  it.  Idolatry  is  hiding  her  mon- 
strous head  ;  and  nations,  at  length  disenthralled,  and 
joyously  surprised,  are  stretching  forth  their  arms  to  hail 
their  rising  day.  The  inspired  record  of  redemption 
is  borne  by  all  the  winds  of  heaven  to  distant  shores  ; 
and  the  church,  in  sublime  hope,  is  waiting  the  result. 
The  consequences  of  the  Redeemer's  life  and  death ! — 
Their  number  and  grandeur  overpower  the  imagination. 
Who  shall  tell  the  tears  that  have  been  wiped  away,  the 
hopes  that  have  been  inspired,  the  guilty  passions  quelled, 
and  the  moral  energy  infused  by  the  glad  tidings  of  sal- 
vation? What  tranquil  happiness,  what  sanctifying  devo- 
tion, what  benevolent  deeds  and  aspirations  have  result- 
ed from  the  glorious  Gospel  !  And  O,  how  can  we  con- 
template, in  thought,  the  present  and  the  future  ransomed 
millions,  that  shall,  through  a  rapturous  eternity,  encom- 
pass the  throne  of  the  Lamb,  without  being  lost  in  won- 
der, love,  and  adoration  ! 

Such  are  the  thoughts  that  ought  to  employ  us,  not  only 
as  oft  as  this  joyful  anniversary  comes  round,  but  as  oft 


NO    SEASON  UNPLEASANT,   ETC.  223 

as  the  morning  dawns,  or  the  shades  of  evening  close 
around  us.  On  our  sabbaths,  and  other  solemn  seasons, 
the  birth,  life,  and  death  of  our  Redeemer,  may  be 
dwelt  upon  with  peculiar  and  blessed  effect;  but  yet  they 
belong  to  all  times,  and  afford,  on  all  occasions,  appro- 
priate themes  of  meditation.  O,  then,  let  the  rising  orb 
of  day  be  ever  linked  in  our  minds  with  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  and  let  the  sweetest  star  of  eve  ever  re- 
mind us  of  the  Star  of  Bethlehem ! 


EIGHTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

NO  SEASON  UNPLEASANT  TO  THE  CHEERFUL  MIND. 

THIS  is  a  season  set  apart,  by  almost  universal  con- 
sent, in  the  Christian  world,  as  a  time  of  festivity.  The 
friendly  greetings  of  the  season  owe  their  origin,  in  a 
great  measure,  to  religious  feelings,  although  they  are  very 
seldom  conducted  in  a  religious  spirit.  There  is  much 
reason  to  regret  the  abuse,  while  we  cannot  condemn  the 
principle  on  which  the  enjoyments  of  this  anniversary  were 
originally  founded.  To  the  Christian,  the  advent  of  the 
Son  of  God  is  indeed  "good  tidings  of  great  joy  ;"  and 
when  his  rejoicings  truly  take  their  rise  from  a  grateful 
and  pious  recollection  of  this  most  glorious  event,  which 
was  the  harbinger  of  "  peace  on  earth, "  and  the  pledge 
of  "good-will  towards  men,"  it  cannot  but  produce  a 
salutary  effect  upon  the  mind. 

"  There  is  something  in  the  very  season  of  the  year," 
says  Washington  Irving,  taking  another  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, "  that  gives  a  charm  to  the  festivity  of  Christmas. 
At  other  times,  we  derive  a  great  portion  of  our  pleas- 
ures from  the  mere  beauties  of  Nature.  Our  feelings 
sally  forth,  and  dissipate  themselves  over  the  sunny  land- 
scape, and  we  £  live  abroad  and  every  where.'  The  song 
of  the  bird,  the  murmur  of  the  stream,  the  breathing 


224  NO   SEASON  UNPLEASANT 

fragrance  of  spring,  the  soft  voluptuousness  of  summer, 
the  golden  pomp  of  autumn,  earth  with  its  mantle  of 
refreshing  green,  and  heaven  with  its  deep  delicious  blue, 
and  its  cloudy  magnificence, — all  fill  us  with  mute  but 
exquisite  delight,  and  we  revel  in  the  luxury  of  mere 
sensation.  But,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  when  Nature 
lies  despoiled  of  every  charm,  and  wrapped  in  her  shroud 
of  sheeted  snow,  we  turn  for  our  gratifications  to  moral 
sources.  The  dreariness  and  desolation  of  the  landscape, 
the  short  gloomy  days,  and  darksome  nights,  while  they 
circumscribe  our  wanderings,  shut  in  our  feelings,  also, 
from  rambling  abroad,  and  make  us  more  keenly  disposed 
for  the  pleasures  of  the  social  circle." 

There  is  truth  in  this  view,  as  applicable  to  a  rightly 
constituted  mind  ;  but,  on  the  temper  and  feelings  of  the 
selfish  and  querulous,  a  very  different  effect  is  produced. 
A  person  of  this  disposition  usually  gives  way  to  a  feel- 
ing of  bodily  uneasiness,  and  is  visibly  disturbed  by  the 
coldness  and  fog  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  unpleasant 
state  of  the  ground.  He  exaggerates  the  peculiar  incon- 
veniences of  the  season,  and  invests  the  gloom  of  the  long- 
continued  storm  with  his  own  deeper  gloominess.  He 
dwells,  with  a  sort  of  satisfaction,  on  every  circumstance 
of  annoyance,  and  rejects  every  ray  of  comfort ;  unlike 
the  more  grateful  earth,  that  in  the  midst  of  almost  inces- 
sant darkness  and  storm,  so  soon  as  the  sun  scatters  for 
an  instant  the  thick  clouds,  is  kindled  into  a  smile,  and 
seems  to  anticipate  the  coming  gladness  of  spring.  But 
these  are  the  symptoms  of  a  mental  disease  not  uncom- 
mon at  this  period. 

Whatever  be  the  cause  of  this  disorder,  it  is  undoubt- 
edly heightened  in  its  virulence  by  the  high  notions  and 
exquisite  feeling  of  comfort^  consequent  upon  the  great 
progress  of  society  amongst  us,  and  the  still  ascending 
scale  of  our  enjoyments.  Our  remote  British  forefathers, 
even  in  the  depth  of  winter,  could  repose  their  weary 
limbs  upon  a  pillow  of  heath  in  the  open  air,  gathering, 
like  the  oaks  of  their  country,  strength  and  hardihood 
from  the  storm.  They  seemed  utterly  insensible  to  the 
numberless  small  discomforts  that  their  descendants  make 


TO  THE  CHEERFUL  MIND.  225 

or  find  in  the  gloomy  weather  and  bleak  dominion  of 
winter.  They  had  neither  the  defences  against  the  in- 
clemency of  the  season,  nor  the  resources  of  domestic 
recreation,  that  we  enjoy  ;  and  yet  we  are  apt  to  murmur 
and  complain,  as  if  our  circumstances  and  theirs  were 
exactly  reversed.  We  have  secure  and  comfortable 
homes,  conveniences  in  clothing  and  shelter,  of  which 
they  never  dreamed,  the  sweets  of  refined  society,  the 
mental  luxury  of  books,  and  numerous  fascinating  amuse- 
ments, equally  innocent  and  useful ;  and  yet,  notwith- 
standing these  multiplied  blessings,  we  can  yield  to  low 
impatience  and  despondency,  if,  haply,  the  wintry  tem- 
pest, however  magnificent  and  sublime  in  its  appearance 
and  effects,  hinder  our  rural  excursions,  or  transiently  af- 
fect our  frames  with  its  moisture  and  its  cold. 

Into  such  ingratitude  are  we  ever  disposed  to  fall.  In- 
stead of  cultivating  cheerfulness  at  all  times  and  in  all 
seasons,  we  too  frequently  lapse  into  moroseness  and 
melancholy.  If,  in  place  of  allowing  ourselves  to  be 
disturbed  by  any  state  of  the  weather  or  of  the  country 
around  us,  we  kept  steadily  in  view  the  various  comforts 
and  enjoyments  within  our  reach  at  every  period  of  the 
year,  we  should  only  be  fulfilling  an  important  duty  ;  and 
we  should  also  be  on  the  surest  way  to  attain  that  seren- 
ity of  mind  which  is  its  own  reward.  That  habit  of 
cheerfulness  would  thus  be  formed,  which  constitutes  no 
small  portion  of  the  philosophy  of  daily  life  ;  and  cheer- 
fulness, when  once  it  becomes  an  habitual  feeling,  finds 
food  and  nourishment  in  all  scenes  and  seasons.  As  the 
man  who  is  keenly  alive  to  the  sublime  and  the  beautiful 
in  Nature  frequently  finds  the  cherished  feelings  of  his 
soul  ministered  unto  by  objects  that  to  other  minds  have 
in  them  nothing  to  attract  or  enliven,  so  the  cheerful 
mind  derives  enjoyment  from  scenery  the  most  unprom- 
ising, and  perceives,  even  in  the  desolation  of  winter,  a 
beauty  and  an  expression  of  its  own. 

It  has  been  said,  that  the  bee  extracts  honey,  and  the 
spider  poison,  from  the  same  flower  ;  but,  perhaps,  with 
greater  truth  may  this  be  figuratively  affirmed  of  men  of 
different  dispositions,  for,  whatever  be  the  condition  of 


226  NO    SEASON  UNPLEASANT,   ETC. 

the  fretful  or  the  self-indulgent,  the  cheerful  man  finds 
the  prevailing  feeling  of  his  mind  reflected  back  upon 
him,  as  it  were,  from  all  the  varied  phenomena  of  the 
seasons.  He  looks  at  Nature  through  a  medium  that  has 
to  him  all  the  effects  of  fabled  enchantment.  As  the 
eye  of  the  painter  or  the  poet  is  quick  to  discern,  in  ev- 
ery landscape,  the  subtile  elements  of  his  creative  art,  so 
does  he,  by  a  seeming  intuition, — by  an  almost  uncon- 
scious alchymy  of  the  mind, — select  from  the  concomi- 
tants of  every  passing  season  all  that  is  fitted  to  compen- 
sate his  incidental  privations,  and  to  inspire  that  tempered 
gladness  which  it  is  his  object  to  attain.  The  winds  of 
winter  may  blow  coldly  over  the  ravaged  earth,  and  be- 
wail the  departed  glories  of  the  year  ;  the  mountains 
may  be  hid  from  his  eye  in  thickest  clouds  ;  the  fields 
and  groves  may  be  verdureless  and  dead  ;  but  these  only 
enhance  the  endearments  of  his  home,  and  heighten  his 
gratitude  for  all  the  blessings  congregated  there. 

I  have  already  dwelt  on  the  peculiar  delights  of  the 
domestic  hearth  at  this  season  ;  and  I  need  not  here  re- 
mark, that  these  can  only  be  enjoyed  in  all  their  power, 
by  the  bosom  in  which  contentment  and  tranquillity  reign. 
The  fine  enjoyments  of  borne  shun  the  stormy  breast, 
and  take  up  their  abode  with  him  who  is  of  a  cheerful 
temper,  and  who  finds,  in  uall  seasons  and  their  change," 
matter  of  gratitude  and  delight.  Winter,  "  stern  ruler 
of  the  inverted  year,"  may  ravage  the  loved  scenery 
around  his  dwelling  ;  but,  within  his  own  breast,  and  in 
his  dear  family  circle,  there  reigns  a  summer  of  social 
and  domestic  joy.  The  glories  of  the  calm  autumnal 
day  may  have  vanished ;  but  the  sublimer  glories  of  the 
nocturnal  heavens  more  frequently  greet  his  enraptured 
sight,  brightly  beaming  through  the  clear  frosty  air.  In 
the  deadness  of  Nature  he  sees  her  necessary  repose  be- 
fore another  spring  ;  the  rain,  the  frost,  and  the  snow, 
are,  in  his  regard,  sent  by  the  Almighty  Father,  to  fer- 
tilize the  soil,  and  herald  the  bounty  of  another  harvest. 

Thus  it  is  beneficently  ordained,  that  the  happy  and 
contented  spirit  should  find,  at  all  times,  the  means  of 
enjoyment.  The  great  Framer  of  the  human  mind  has 


PROOFS   OF  DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE.  227 

exquisitely  adapted  the  external  world  to  its  various  feel- 
ings and  powers  ;  and  when  these  are  in  healthful  action, 
Nature,  in  her  wintry  as  well  as  her  vernal  aspects,  is 
full  of  beauty  and  harmony.  Though  the  flowery  and 
the  fruitful  seasons  of  the  year  may  be  over  and  gone,  and 
the  blasts  of  winter  howl  among  the  desolate  mountains, the 
past  is  without  regret,  the  present  full  of  enjoyment,  and 
the  future  rich  in  hope.  How  should  we  then  adore  that 
Divine  goodness,  which  has  given  us  power  to  enjoy  the 
seasons  as  they  pass  in  grand  succession  before  us ;  and, 
even  among  the  sternest  scenes  of  winter,  to  behold  in 
vision  the  luxuriant  beauty  of  spring  !  J.  D. 


NINTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

PROOFS  OF  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    THE    WORKS  OF    CREA- 
TION. 

"CONTRIVANCE  proves  design,"  argues  Dr.  Paley  ; 
"  and  the  prominent  tendency  of  the  contrivance  indi- 
cates the  disposition  of  the  designer.  The  world  abounds 
with  contrivances  ;  and  all  the  contrivances  we  are  ac- 
quainted with,  are  directed  to  beneficial  purposes.  Evil, 
no  doubt,  exists ;  but  it  is  never,  that  we  can  perceive, 
the  object  of  contrivance.  Teeth  are  contrived  to  eat, 
not  to  ache  ;  their  aching  now  and  then  is  incidental  to 
the  contrivance,  perhaps  inseparable  from  it ;  or  even, 
if  you  will,  let  it  be  called  a  defect  in  the  contrivance  ; 
but  it  is  not  the  object  of  it.  This  is  a  distinction  that 
well  deserves  being  attended  to.  In  describing  im- 
plements of  husbandry,  you  would  hardly  say  of  a  sickle, 
that  it  is  made  to  cut  the  reaper's  fingers,  though,  from 
the  construction  of  the  instrument,  and  the  manner  of 
using  it,  this  mischief  often  happens.  But,  if  you  had 
occasion  to  describe  instruments  of  torture  or  execution, 
this,  you  would  say,  is  to  extend  the  sinews  ;  this  to  dis- 


228  PROOFS   OF  DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE 

locate  the  joints  ;  this  to  break  the  bones;  this  to  scorch 
the  soles  of  the  feet.  Here  pain  and  misery  are  the  very 
objects  of  the  contrivance.  Now,  nothing  of  this  sort  is 
to  be  found  in  the  works  of  Nature.  We  never  discover 
a  train  of  contrivance  to  bring  about  an  evil  purpose. 
No  anatomist  ever  discovered  a  system  of  organization 
calculated  to  produce  pain  and  disease  ;  or,  in  explain- 
ing the  parts  of  the  human  body,  ever  said,  this  is  to  ir- 
ritate ;  this  is  to  inflame  ;  this  duct  is  to  convey  the 
gravel  to  the  kidneys  ;  this  gland  to  secrete  the  humor 
which  forms  the  gout.  If,  by  chance,  he  come  at  a  part 
of  which  he  knows  not  the  use,  the  most  he  can  say  is, 
that  it  is  useless.  No  one  ever  suspects  that  it  is  put 
there  to  incommode,  to  annoy,  or  torment.  Since,  then, 
God  hath  called  forth  his  consummate  wisdom  to  con- 
trive and  provide  for  our  happiness  ;  and  the  world  ap- 
pears to  have  been  constituted  with  this  design  at  first,  so 
long  as  this  constitution  is  upheld  by  Him,  we  must,  in 
reason,  suppose  the  same  design  to  continue."* 

This  is  a  beautiful,  and,  in  many  respects,  a  just  view 
of  the  constitution  of  Nature,  with  reference  to  living  be- 
ings ;  which,  while  it  does  not  account  for  the  origin  of 
evil,  nor  vindicate  its  existence,  yet  undeniably  proves 
benevolence  in  the  great  Creator.  Had  He  been  ma- 
levolent, we  should  certainly  have  met  with  malevolent 
contrivances ;  had  He  been  indifferent  to  good  and  evil, 
we  should  not  have  so  constantly  found,  in  all  the  con- 
trivances of  Nature,  a  regard  to  happiness.  Still,  it  must 
never  be  forgotten,  that  the  same  Divine  power,  which 
called  such  a  world  as  ours  into  existence,  might  have 
formed  it  free  from  both  moral  and  natural  evil ;  and  this 
proves,  beyond  contradiction,  that  this  wise  and  benevo- 
lent Being  did  not  admit  the  presence  of  evil,  without  a 
wise  and  benevolent  design,  whatever  that  may  be.  Pa- 
ley,  in  his  eagerness  to  vindicate  the  Divine  perfections, 
seems  sometimes  to  lose  sight  of  that  important  truth, 
and  to  argue  as  if  evil  were  either  an  unavoidable  inci- 
dent of  creation,  or  an  effect  of  chance,  both  of  which 
are  obviously  untenable  positions ;  and,  if  such  tendency 

*  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  book  ii.  chap.  5. 


IN  THE   WORKS   OF  CREATION.  229 

can  be  discovered  in  the  argument  quoted  above,  I  am 
not  inclined  to  justify  it.  The  fact  that  all  the  contriv- 
ances of  Nature  are  benevolent,  so  far  as  they  go,  is  all 
that  I  contend  for.  The  existence  of  evil, notwithstand- 
ing, is  to  be  accounted  for  on  another  principle,  the  na- 
ture of  which  we  can  only  understand,  as  I  have  already 
stated,  by  studying  the  book  of  Revelation. 

Referring  to  the  subject  we  were  considering  during 
the  last  week,  the  migration  of  animals,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  that  the  Creator,  if  He  had  so  willed,  might  have 
constituted  their  frames  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render 
winter  as  profuse  of  blessings  to  them,  in  their  native 
haunts,  as  summer,  and  thus  have  prevented  the  neces- 
sity of  the  long  journeys  which  some  of  them  are  impelled 
to  take  ;  that  is  to  say,  instead  of  contrivances  to  avoid  or 
mitigate  evils,  He  could  have  removed  the  evils  them- 
selves altogether ;  and,  in  their  place,  have  bestowed 
positive  enjoyment.  That  He  has  not  done  so,  is  one 
of  those  striking  peculiarities  in  the  Divine  administra- 
tion of  which  we  can  find  no  adequate  solution  in  natural 
appearances,  and  for  explanation  of  which,  we  must  refer 
to  another  source.  This  view  has  already  been  stated  ; 
but,  as  it  meets  us  at  every  turn,  and  qualifies  all  our  rea- 
sonings, it  is  necessary  constantly  to  recur  to  it. 

Taking  the  constitution  of  Nature  as  we  find  it,  we 
have  abundant  reason  to  perceive  indications  of  goodness, 
as  well  as  of  wisdom,  in  the  migratory  propensities  which 
the  Creator  has  so  wonderfully  impressed  on  the  winged 
creation,  as  well  as  in  those  contrivances  by  which  the 
rigor  of  winter  is  softened  to  the  various  tribes  who  are 
not  furnished  with  this  resource.  Besides  the  views  of 
this  subject  already  taken,  there  is  another,  which  ought 
not  to  be  omitted.  There  is  a  pleasure  attached  by  the 
Author  of  our  being  to  variety.  I  do  not  know  whether 
or  not  this  pleasure  is  felt  by  the  inferior  creation ;  but, 
assuredly,  it  is  a  constituent  feature  of  the  human  mind. 
Now,  observe  one  of  the  provisions  made  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  this  source  of  enjoyment,  in  the  changes  effect- 
ed by  the  migratory  habits  of  birds.  The  very  same 
swallows,  which  "  twitter  from  the  straw-built  sheds"  of 
i.  20  vn. 


230  PROOFS   OF  DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE 

Britain,  during  the  summer  months,  delight  the  swarthy 
sons  of  Africa  in  winter,  as  they  dart  after  their  insect 
prey,  along  the  plains  of  that  distant  continent.  The 
same  cuckoo,  too,  which  stopped  the  little  satchelled 
urchin,  on  his  way  from  school,  in  this  civilized  land, 
that  he  might  imitate  the  wellknown  lay,  startles  the  ear 
of  the  young  African  savage,  as  he  roams  over  his  native 
wilds.  The  birds  of  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Iceland, 
supply  the  blank  made  by  the  retiring  of  our  summer  resi- 
dents ;  while  those  which  leave  our  shores  in  autumn  for 
the  south,  probably  only  occupy  the  regions  left  vacant 
by  the  transit  of  the  summer  visitants  of  those  countries 
to  still  more  southerly  latitudes.  Thus  a  constant  inter- 
change of  the  feathered  tribes  is  kept  up,  to  attract  the 
curiosity  and  gratify  the  love  of  variety  implanted  in  the 
heart  of  man  ;  while  these  interesting  tenants  of  the  air, 
doubtless,  fulfil  another  benevolent  intention  of  their 
Creator,  by  feeding  on  the  insects  which  the  warm  cli- 
mates so  abundantly  produce  ;  thus  providing  against  their 
increase  to  such  undue  extent  as  to  destroy,  or  materially 
to  injure,  animals  of  a  higher  grade,  and  disturb  the  beau- 
tiful balance  of  Nature. 

But,  in  regarding  the  provisions  of  the  God  of  Nature 
for  the  welfare  of  the  animated  creation  during  this  com- 
paratively dismal  season,  and  tracing  the  hand  of  a  be- 
neficent Parent  in  the  tender  care  which  He  manifests 
for  their  subsistence  and  comfort,  we  can  scarcely  avoid 
extending  our  thoughts  further,  and  raising  them  higher. 
The  beautiful  language  of  our  Saviour,  which  affords  so 
just  and  so  encouraging  a  view  of  the  Universal  Parent, 
naturally  occurs,  in  such  a  review,  to  the  pious  mind  : — 
u  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air;  for  they  sow  not,  neither 
do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your  heavenly 
Father  feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than 
they  ?"  Better,  assuredly,  in  our  moral  and  intellectual 
powers,  if  only  these  be  properly  employed  ;  and  the 
sentiment  points  obviously  to  the  higher  destiny,  to 
which,  as  immortal  beings,  we  are  called,  by  Him  who 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light. 

The  migration  of  birds  to  fairer  climes,  when  the 
storms  of  winter  gather,  cannot,  indeed,  be  said  to  fur- 


IN  THE  WORKS  OF  CREATION.         231 

nish  any  analogy,  on  which  we  can  build  a  solid  argu- 
ment for  the  existence  of  a  future  state  ;  but  yet  there  is 
something  in  the  paternal  feeling  which  it  indicates,  that, 
at  least,  forcibly  recalls  the  promised  blessing  to  the  mind, 
and  affords  an  agreeable  illustration  of  the  revealed  truth. 
We  can  fancy  the  bird,  borne  by  a  secret  impulse 
from  the  coming  gloom  and  sterility  of  its  native  haunts, 
winging  its  way  over  sea  and  land,  looking  down  with 
indifference  on  the  placid  expanse  of  the  ocean,  or  rising 
far  above  its  stormy  waves ;  gliding,  without  the  desire 
of  rest  or  food,  over  flowery  plains  and  wide-spread 
wastes,  forests,  lakes,  and  mountains  ;  fixing  its  eager 
eye  on  the  distant  horizon  ;  still  onward — onward  keep- 
ing its  steady  course  ;  and  giving  no  rest  to  its  buoyant 
wings,  or  at  least  none  except  what  Nature  loudly  de- 
mands, till  it  reaches  the  happy  shore  to  which  an  unseen 
hand  was  guiding  it,  and  a  voice,  unheard  by  the  out- 
ward ear,  was  whispering  all  the  while,  "  Behold  the 
place  of  your  rest."  All  this,  which  every  recurring 
year  realizes,  we  can  paint  to  ourselves,  and  we  can  see, 
in  that  wonderful  flight,  an  emblem  of  the  race  of  the 
pious  Christian,  who  seeks  his  rest  in  heaven.  The 
same  unseen  hand  is  guiding  him  from  the  storms  of 
earth,  the  same  unheard  voice  communicates  inwardly 
with  his  conscious  soul ;  with  a  similar  desire  he  burns ; 
with  a  corresponding  eagerness  he  pants  ; — but  his  view 
is  not  bounded  by  a  horizon  of  earth  ;  his  hopes  are  far, 
far  beyond  the  regions  of  the  sun  :  To  the  distant  heav- 
ens he  directs  his  anxious  gaze  ;  before  him  still  he  sees 
a  radiant  track,  and  knows  the  footmarks  of  his  crucified 
Redeemer  ;  dim  in  the  distant  sky,  a  shining  spot  ap- 
pears ;  on  that  spot  his  anxious  eye  is  fixed  ;  it  bright- 
ens and  enlarges  as  he  advances  ;  one  struggle  more ; — 
the  ties  which  bound  him  to  the  world  are  broken  ; 
earth  disappears  ;  he  enters  the  portals  of  heaven ;  he  is 
in  the  arms  of  his  Saviour ;  he  is  singing  hosannahs  with 
angels  and  blessed  spirits  before  the  throne  of  God  !* 

*  [This  train  of  remark  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  Moore's 
beautiful  lines,  beginning 

"  The  bird  let  loose  in  Eastern  skies." 
At  any  rate  it  strongly  reminds  us  of  them. — AM.  ED.] 


232  MIGRATION  OF  FISHES. 


NINTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

MIGRATION  OF  FISHES. 

THERE  is  yet  another  class  of  migratory  creatures, 
which  we  take  notice  of  here,  although  their  annual  jour- 
neys are  not  so  immediately  connected  with  temperature, 
and  the  means  of  subsistence,  as  those  we  have  already 
mentioned,  and  although  these  journeys  do  not  properly 
belong  to  this  season  of  the  year ;  I  allude  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  seas.  There  is  indeed  one  analogy,  by  which 
these  numerous  classes  are  connected,  in  their  change  of 
place,  with  the  migratory  animals  of  the  land — that  of  the 
instinct  by  which  they  seek  for  a  fit  place  for  the  repro- 
duction of  the  species.  That  this, is  at  least  one  of  the 
laws  which  regulate  the  removals  of  birds  and  beasts,  Dr. 
Jenner  has  very  distinctly  and  ingeniously  proved.*  To 
whatever  extent  this  may  be  the  case  with  land  animals, 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  such  a  law  has  a  most  pow- 
erful effect  on  those  which  glide  through  the  waters  of 
the  great  deep. 

Of  migratory  fishes,  the  sturgeon,  and  its  gigantic  con- 
gener, the  huso,  are  well  known.  This  latter  species  is 
only  to  be  found  in  the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas,  and  the 
rivers  which  flow  into  them.  It  enters  the  Don  and 
Volga,  in  vast  shoals,  about  the  middle  of  winter,  where 
it  spawns,  and  then  returns  to  its  usual  places  of  summer 
resort.  The  prodigious  fertility  of  this  fish,  may  be 
judged  of  by  the  circumstance,  that  its  eggs  equal  nearly 
a  third  of  its  whole  weight ;  and  Pallas,  who  gives  an  in- 
teresting account  of  the  mode  of  fishing  the  huso,  men- 
tions one  which  weighed  no  less  than  2800  Ibs.  Of  these 
eggs  the  caviare  is  made,  which  is  in  great  demand,  as 
an  article  of  food,  among  the  Russians  and  Turks,  and 

*  In  a  paper,  published  after  his  death,  in  the  Philosophical  Trans 
actions,  for  1824. 


MIGRATION  OF   FISHES.  233 

on  which  the  Greeks  are  said  almost  entirely  to  subsist, 
during  their  long  fasts. 

The  codfish,  the  haddock,  and  the  mackerel,  are  also 
different  species  of  migratory  fishes.  The  former  of 
these,  frequent  shallows  and  sand-banks,  between  the  forti- 
eth and  sixty-eighth  degrees  of  north  latitude,  both  in  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  and  is  taken  in  immense 
numbers,  especially  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  This 
fish  makes  for  the  coast  at  spawning  time,  which  takes 
place  about  the  end  of  winter.  It  is  said  by  Leuwenhoek, 
that  there  are  more  than  nine  millions  of  eggs  in  a  cod- 
fish of  the  middle  size.  What  a  bountiful  provision  for 
the  numerous  tribes  of  the  broad  ocean,  which  exist  by 
devouring  the  fry,  &c.,  as  they  rise  to  maturity ! 

But,  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  ocean,  the  herring  is 
the  most  valuable,  as  affording  the  greatest  quantity  both 
of  profitable  employment  and  of  food  to  man.  Three 
thousand  decked  vessels,  of  different  sizes,  besides  smaller 
boats,  are  stated  to  be  employed  in  the  herring  fishery, 
with  a  proportionable  number  of  seamen,  besides  many 
thousands  of  hands,  who  are,  at  certain  seasons,  employed 
in  curing  them.  Of  this  fish,  Kirby  gives  the  following 
interesting  account. 

"  The  herring  belongs  to  the  tribe  called  abdominal 
fishes,  or  those  whose  ventral  fins  are  behind  the  pecto- 
ral, and  may  be  said  to  inhabit  the  Arctic  Seas  of  Eu- 
rope, Asia,  and  America,  from  whence  they  annually 
migrate,  at  different  times,  in  search  of  food,  and  to  de- 
posit their  spawn.  Their  shoals  consist  of  millions  of 
myriads,  and  are  many  leagues  in  width,  many  fathoms 
in  thickness,  and  so  dense,  that  the  fishes  touch  each 
other ;  they  are  preceded,  at  the  interval  of  some  days, 
by  insulated  males.  The  largest  and  strongest  are  said 
to  lead  the  shoals,  which  seem  to  move  in  a  certain  order, 
and  to  divide  into  bands  as  they  proceed,  visiting  the 
shores  of  various  islands  and  countries,  and  enriching 
their  inhabitants.  Their  presence  and  progress  are  usu- 
ally indicated  by  various  sea  birds,  sharks,  and  other  ene- 
mies. One  of  the  cartilaginous  fishes,  the  sea  ape,*  is 

*  Chimsera  monstrosa. 
20* 


234  MIGRATION  OF  FISHES. 

said  to  accompany  them  constantly,  and  is  thence  called 
the  king  of  the  herrings.  They  throw  off,  also,  a  kind  of 
oily  or  slimy  substance,  which  extends  over  their  col- 
umns, and  is  easily  seen  in  calm  weather.  This  substance, 
in  gloomy,  still  nights,  exhibits  a  phosphoric  light,  as  if 
a  cloth,  a  little  luminous,  were  spread  over  the  sea. 

u  Some  conjecture  may  be  made  of  the  infinite  num- 
ber of  these  invaluable  fishes,  that  are  taken  by  European 
nations,  from  what  Lacepede  relates, — that,  in  Norway, 
20,000,000  have  been  taken  at  a  single  fishing ;  that 
there  are  few  years  that  they  do  not  capture  400, 000,000  ; 
and  that,  at  Gottenburg,  and  its  vicinity,  700,000,000 
are  annually  taken.  '  But  what  are  these  millions,'  he 
remarks,  cto  the  incredible  numbers  that  go  to  the  share 
of  the  English,  Dutch,  and  other  European  nations  ?' 

c  c  Migrations  of  these  fishes  are  stated  to  take  place  at 
three  different  times  ;  the  first,  when  the  ice  begins  to 
melt,  which  continues  to  the  end  of  June  ;  then  succeeds 
that  of  summer,  followed  by  the  autumnal  one,  which  lasts 
till  the  middle  of  September.  They  seek  places  for 
spawning,  where  stones  and  marine  plants  abound,  against 
which  they  rub  themselves,  alternately,  on  each  side,  all 
the  while  moving  their  fins  with  great  rapidity."* 

The  instincts  and  habits  of  the  finny  tribes  are  neces- 
sarily less  known  than  those  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land, 
where  their  motions  are  constantly  under  the  eye  of  man  ; 
but  all  that  we  do  know  of  them,  proves  that  the  same 
wonder-working  and  beneficent  Power,  which  watches 
over,  and  so  mysteriously  guides,  the  living  creation  in 
the  regions  of  earth  and  air,  extends  His  government  and 
His  paternal  care  to  the  vast  ocean  ;  adapting  the  various 
natures  of  the  creatures,  with  which  He  has  so  abundantly 
peopled  it,  with  consummate  wisdom,  to  the  element  in 
which  they  are  destined  to  move  ;  providing  for  their 
reproduction,  their  subsistence  and  their  happiness,  in  a 
manner  analogous  to,  and  yet  different  from,  that  of  the 
land  tribes ;  and  both,  in  their  analogy  and  their  differ- 
ence, exhibiting  a  skill  transcending  all  adequate  expres- 

*  Kirby's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.  pp.  113—115. 


CETACEOUS  ANIMALS.  235 

sion,  and  filling  the  mind  with  astonishment  and  awe.  ^  No 
wonder  that  the  Psalmist,  even  with  his  comparatively 
limited  knowledge,  should  express  his  admiration  in  this 
glowing  strain  : — "  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  Thy  works  ! 
in  wisdom  hast  Thou  made  them  all :  The  earth  is  full  of 
Thy  riches.  So  is  this  great  and  wide  sea,  wherein  are 
things  creeping  innumerable,  both  small  and  great  beasts. 
There  go  the  ships  :  there  is  that  leviathan,  whom  Thou 
hast  made  to  play  therein.  These  wait  all  upon  Thee  : 
that  Thou  mayest  give  them  their  meat  in  due  season." 


NINTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

CETACEOUS  ANIMALS.* 

OF  the  migratory  inhabitants  of  the  ocean,  the  most 
remarkable  is  that  class  of  which  the  whale  is  the  chief. 
As  there  are  animals  of  a  low  grade,  which,  by  their 
structure  and  amphibious  habits,  seem  intended,  by  the 
Author  of  Nature,  to  form  the  link  between  the  denizens 
of  the  land  and  of  the  sea,  so  it  has  pleased  Providence 
to  place  at  the  top  of  the  scale  of  creatures  whose  "home 
is  in  the  deep,"  a  gigantic  race,  so  nearly  allied  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land,  that  many  naturalists  have  denied 
it  the  name  of  fish,  and  have  bestowed  on  it  the  some- 
what awkward  appellation  of  "  beast  of  the  ocean."  Ani- 
mals of  this  genus  resemble  quadrupeds,  indeed,  as  to 
their  structure,  in  many  striking  particulars.  Like  quad- 
rupeds, they  have  lungs,  a  stomach,  intestines,  liver, 
spleen,  and  bladder.  Like  quadrupeds,  too,  they  have 
a  heart,  with  its  partitions,  driving  warm  and  red  blood 
in  circulation  through  the  body  ;  they  breathe  the  air ; 
they  are  viviparous  ;  and  they  suckle  their  young.  Their 

*  For  a  great  part  of  this  paper,  I  have  to  acknowledge  my  obligating 
to  Dr.  Bushnan,  the  intelligent  author  of  the  *  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of  Nature.' 


236  CETACEOUS  ANIMALS. 

internal  parts,  which  bear  so  close  a  resemblance  to  land 
animals,  are  similarly  protected  from  the  cold,  being 
covered,  like  the  hog,  between  the  skin  and  the  muscles, 
with  a  thick  coat  of  fat  or  blubber.  It  is  this  latter 
property  which  renders  them  valuable  to  man,  by  whom 
they  are  so  pertinaciously  hunted,  that  it  is  believed  not 
one  of  the  largest  species  dies  a  natural  death  in  our 
northern  seas,  or  arrives  nearly  at  its  natural  size. 

Notwithstanding  their  close  .resemblance  to  quadru- 
peds, however,  in  so  many  particulars,  they  are  not  less 
closely  connected  with  the  families  of  the  sea.  They 
are  shaped  as  fishes  ;  they  swim  with  fins  ;  they  are  en- 
tirely destitute  of  hair  ;  they  live  wholly  in  the  depths  of 
the  ocean, — qualities  which,  although  the  whale  order  is 
justly  ranked  by  naturalists  among  Mammalia,  have  pro- 
cured for  them,  in  ordinary  language,  that  distinctive 
name,  by  which  we  distinguish  the  finny  tribes.*  The 
various  species  of  this  animal  are — the  whale,  and  its 
varieties,  the  cachalot,  the  dolphin,  the  grampus,  and  the 
porpoise. 

These  cetaceous  animals,  as  they  require  to  breathe 
the  air,  have  holes  at  the  top  of  their  head,  called  spira- 
cles, corresponding  to  the  nostrils  of  land  animals,  which 
they  frequently  raise  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
through  which  the  air  finds  access  to  the  lungs.  It  is 
through  these  orifices  that  the  water-spouts  of  the  whale 
are  ejected,  accompanied  with  a  noise,  loud  as  a  rushing 
torrent,  and  rising  sometimes  to  the  height  of  forty  feet. 
These  spouts,  which  have  occasioned  much  discussion, 
consist  merely  of  expired  air,  and  watery  vapor,  con- 
densed by  the  cold  of  the  atmosphere. 

The  whale  is  superior  to  all  other  warm-blooded  ani- 
mals, both  from  the  extent  of  the  domain,  which  he  has 
held  uninterrupted  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and  from 
the  enormous  size  to  which  he  attains. f  The  hippopo- 

*  Goldsmith's  Animated  Nature. 

t  The  whale  is  said  to  have  been  found,  formerly,  of  the  amazing 
size  of  two  hundred  and  even  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet ;  but  it  sel- 
dom is  permitted,  in  the  present  day,  to  escape  the  rapacity  of  man,  af- 
ter it  has  attained  the  length  of  seventy  or  eighty  feet,  except  in  the 
South  Seas,  where  it  may  still  be  occasionally  taken  of  double  that  size. 


CETACEOUS  ANIMALS.  237 

tamus,  the  elephant,  the  crocodile,  are  pigmies  to  him  ; 
and,  while  they  cower  before  the  blast,  he  plays  with  the 
storm-vexed  ocean,  mounts  carelessly  upon  the  giant 
waves,  lies  like  a  cradled  creature  'mid  their  dark  and  dis- 
mal furrows,  and,  defying  the  power  of  the  most  tempest- 
uous seas,  sinks  in  security  to  the  deep  profound.  The 
strength  of  the  whale,  too,  is  prodigious.  "  A  large 
boat,"  says  Martins,  in  his  voyage  to  Spitzbergen,  u  he 
valueth  no  more  than  dust ;  for  he  can  beat  it  to  shivers 
at  a  blow."  The  blows  of  the  tail  of  the  white  shark, 
when  hauled  upon  the  decks  of  a  vessel,  are  so  tremen- 
dous, as  to  threaten  destruction  to  all  on  board  ;  and, 
while  in  the  water,  the  basking  shark,  when  harpooned, 
has  been  known  to  tow  a  vessel  of  seventy  tons'  burden, 
at  a  rapid  rate,  against  a  fresh  gale,  for  a  considerable 
distance. 

Against  these  mighty  animals,  man  wages  a  war  so  ex- 
terminating, as  to  have  driven  them  from  their  ancient 
haunts,  to  seek  for  safety  in  the  more  inaccessible  parts 
of  the  ocean  :  here,  however,  they  are  followed.  The 
object  is  to  obtain  the  great  quantity  of  oil  which  is  found 
in  what  is  called  their  blubber.  The  quantity  of  this 
oil,  procured  from  the  great  northern  whale,  frequently 
amounts  to  one  twelfth  of  the  weight  of  its  enormous 
carcass  ;  the  tongue  alone,  which  has  been  said  to  be 
u  about  the  size  of  a  great  feather-bed,"  often  yielding 
five  or  six  barrels.  Besides  this  mass  of  subcutaneous 
fat,  many  cetaceous  animals,  as  the  bottle-nosed  or  sper- 
maceti whale,  have  a  second  collection  of  a  similar  sub- 
stance, except  that  it  is  of  a  purer  quality,  and  firmer 
consistence,  in  a  large  reservoir,  often  sixteen  or  eigh- 
teen feet  long,  and  wide  in  proportion,  at  the  top  of  their 
heads,  near  the  spiracles  or  breathing-holes.  This  is  the 
spermaceti  of  commerce. 

Here  we  have  a  strong  illustration  of  the  all-provident 
care  of  the  Almighty.  The  solid  parts  of  the  body  of 
these  animals  are  heavier  than  water  ;  consequently,  had 
they  not  been  provided  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  some 
substance  lighter  than  water,  by  which  their  tendency 
to  sink  might  be  counteracted,  it  would  have  required  a 


238  CETACEOUS  ANIMALS. 

constant  effort,  on  their  parts,  to  keep  themselves  at  any 
given  level  below  the  water  ;  and  besides  this,  cetaceous 
animals,  unlike  other  fishes,  require  frequently  to  be 
raised  to  the  surface.  It  has,  therefore,  been  wisely 
provided,  that,  while  the  oil  of  the  blubber  serves  to  ren- 
der the  body,  collectively,  lighter  than  the  water  which 
they  inhabit,  the  spermaceti  should  render  the  top  of  the 
head  the  most  buoyant  part  of  the  body  ;  and,  in  this 
way,  it  is  kept  above  the  surface,  without  any  exertion. 

We  are  indebted  to  Captain  Scoresby  for  the  following 
interesting  notices  of  the  Greenland  Whale  Fisheries. 

The  first  impulse  of  the  whale,  when  harpooned,  is  to 
plunge  deep  beneath  the  waves,  going  at  the  rate  of  eight 
or  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  carrying  the  harpoon,  to  which 
a  long  line  is  attached,  still  fixed  in  the  wound.  The 
depth  to  which  it  sometimes  plunges,  is  eight  hundred 
fathoms,  and  the  pressure  there  sustained  would,  accord- 
ing to  this  writer,  be  equal  to  211,200  tons, — a  degree 
of  pressure,  of  which  we  have  but  an  imperfect  concep- 
tion. "  It  may  assist  our  comprehension,  however,  to  be 
informed,  that  it  exceeds  in  weight  sixty  of  the  largest  ships 
of  the  British  navy,  when  manned,  provisioned,  and  fit- 
ted for  a  six  months'  cruise." 

"  No  sooner  does  the  exhausted  whale  appear,  than 
the  assisting  boats  make  for  the  place,  with  the  utmost 
speed,  and,  as  they  reach  it,  each  harpooner  plunges  his 
harpoon  into  its  back,  to  the  amount  of  three,  four,  or 
more,  according  to  the  size  of  the  whale,  and  the  nature 
of  the  situation.  Most  frequently,  it  descends  for  a  few 
minutes  after  receiving  the  second  harpoon,  and  obliges 
the  other  boats  to  wait  its  return  to  the  surface  before 
any  further  attack  can  be  made.  It  is  afterwards  actively 
plied  with  lances,  which  are  thrust  into  its  body,  aiming 
at  its  vitals.  At  length,  when  exhausted  by  numerous 
wounds,  and  the  loss  of  blood,  which  flows  from  the  huge 
animal  in  copious  streams,  it  indicates  the  approach  of 
its  dissolution,  by  discharging  from  its  blow-holes  a  mix- 
ture of  blood,  along  with  the  air  and  mucus  which  it 
usually  breathes  out,  and  finally,  jets  of  blood  alone. 
The  sea,  to  a  great  extent  around,  Is  dyed  with  its  blood, 


CETACEOUS  ANIMALS.  239 

and  the  ice,  boats,  and  men,  are  sometimes  drenched  with 
the  same.  Its  final  capture  is,  at  times,  preceded  by  a 
convulsive  and  energetic  struggle,  in  which  its  tail,  reared, 
whirled,  and  violently  jerked  in  the  air,  resounds  to  the 
distance  of  miles. " 

This  animal  exhibits  such  warm  affections  for  its  mate 
and  its  young,  as  to  excite  the  strongest  sympathy  for  its 
fate,  in  the  benevolent  mind  ;  and  this  feeling  is  certainly 
not  diminished  by  the  circumstance,  that  these  very  af- 
fections are  frequently  made  use  of,  by  the  heartless  ava- 
rice of  man,  to  decoy  it  into  his  power.  Captain  Scores- 
by  mentions,  that  the  cub  is  often  attacked  to  lure  the 
mother,  and,  when  this  cruel  plan  is  adopted,  it  generally 
succeeds.  "  In  June,  1811,"  says  he,  giving  an  exam- 
ple, uone  of  my  harpooners  struck  a  sucker,  with  the 
hope  of  its  leading  to  the  capture  of  its  mother.  Pres- 
ently she  arose  close  by  the  fast-boat,  and,  seizing  the 
young  one,  dragged  about  one  hundred  fathoms  of  line 
out  of  the  boat,  with  remarkable  force  and  velocity. 
Again  she  arose  to  the  surface,  darted  furiously  to  and 
fro,  and  frequently  stopped  short,  or  suddenly  changed 
her  direction,  and  gave  every  possible  intimation  of  ex- 
treme agony.  For  a  length  of  time,  she  continued  thus 
to  act,  though  closely  pursued  by  the  boats  ;  and,  in- 
spired with  courage  and  resolution,  by  her  concern  for 
her  offspring,  seemed  regardless  of  the  danger  that  sur- 
rounded her.  At  length  one  of  the  boats  approached  so 
near,  that  a  harpoon  was  hove  at  her  ;  it  hit,  but  did  not 
attach  itself.  A  second  harpoon  was  struck  ;  this  also 
failed  to  penetrate  ;  but  a  third  was  more  effectual,  and 
held.  Still  she  did  not  attempt  to  escape,  but  allowed 
other  boats  to  approach  ;  so  that,  in  a  few  minutes,  three 
more  harpoons  were  fastened  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  an 
hour  afterwards,  she  was  killed." 

There  is  something  exceedingly  interesting  in  the  fact, 
that,  in  these  monsters  of  the  ocean,  the  hand  of  the 
Creator  has  placed  the  same  kindly  and  disinterested  af- 
fections, which  ennoble  the  most  exalted  of  His  creatures 
who  tread  the  solid  land,  and  claim  kindred  with  heaven. 


240  MIGRATION  OF   FISHES 


NINTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

MIGRATION  OF  FISHES  FROM  THE  SEA  INTO  RIVERS. 

WITH  regard  to  the  tenants  of  the  ocean  which  peri- 
odically find  their  way  into  the  fresh  water,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  spawning,  Mr.  Kirby  gives  the  following  inter- 
esting notices. 

"  The  next  tribe  of  migratory  fishes  is  one  whose  sev- 
eral species  are  intermediate  between  marine  and  fresh 
water  fishes,  roving,  indifferently,  in  the  sea,  and  rivers, 
and  lakes,  which  thus  is  fitted,  by  Providence,  to  make 
up  to  the  inhabitants  of  inland  countries,  their  distance 
from  the  other  migrators,  by  a  supply,  brought,  as  it 
were,  to  their  very  doors.  The  fishes  in  question,  be- 
long, like  the  herrings,  to  the  abdominal  class,  and  form 
the  salmon  genus,  including  the  salmon,  the  salmon-trout, 
the  trout,  the  grayling,  the  char,  the  smelt,  the  hucho, 
and  many  other  species.  I  shall,  however,  confine  my 
observations  principally  to  the  king,  as  it  may  be  called, 
of  the  river  migrators, — the  salmon.  In  our  own  coun- 
try, this  noble  fish  is  too  high  priced  to  form  a  general 
article  of  food,  and  may  be  reckoned  among  the  luxuries 
of  the  rich  man's  table  ;  but  in  others,  especially  amongst 
some  of  the  North-western  American  tribes,  they  are 
gifts  of  Providence,  which  form  their  principal  food  at 
all  seasons.  One  of  these  tribes,  which  Sir  George 
Mackenzie  fell  in  with,  in  his  journey  from  Canada  to 
the  Pacific,  were  perfect  ichthyophagites,  and  would  touch 

no  other  animal  food. 

#  #  #  #  * 

"  The  salmon,  indeed,  frequents  every  sea,  the  Arctic 
as  well  as  the  equatorial;  and  it  is  found  even  in  great 
lakes  and  inland  seas,  as  the  Caspian,  into  which  it  is 
even  affirmed  to  make  its  way  by  a  subterranean  chan- 


FROM  THE  SEA  INTO  RIVERS.          241 

nel  from  the  Persian  Gulf;*  it  goes  as  far  south  as  New 
Holland  and  the  Australian  seas  ;  but  it  is  said  never  to 
have  been  found  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  appears  to 
have  been  unknown  to  Aristotle.  Pliny  mentions  it  as 
a  river  fish,  preferred  to  all  marine  ones  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Gaul.  It  traverses  the  whole  length  of  the  larg- 
est rivers.  It  reaches  Bohemia  by  the  Elbe,  Switzer- 
land by  the  Rhine,  and  the  Cordilleras  of  America  by 
the  mighty  Maragnon,  or  river  of  the  Amazons,  whose 
course  is  nearly  3000  miles.  In  temperate  climates,  the 
salmon  quit  the  seas  early  in  spring,  when  the  waves  are 
driven  by  a  strong  wind  against  the  river  currents.  It 
enters  the  rivers  of  France,  in  the  beginning  of  the  au- 
tumn— in  September  ;  and  in  Kamtschatka  and  North 
America  still  later. 

"  They  rush  into  rivers  that  are  freest  from  ice,  or 
where  they  are  carried  by  the  highest  tide,  favored  by 
the  wind ;  they  prefer  those  streams  that  are  most 
shaded.  They  leave  the  sea  in  numerous  bands,  formed 
with  great  regularity.  The  largest  individual,  which  is 
generally  a  female,  takes  the  lead,  and  is  followed  by 
others  of  the  same  sex,  two  and  two,  each  pair  being  at 
the  distance  of  from  three  to  six  feet  from  the  preceding 
one  ;  next  come  the  old,  and  after  them  the  young  males, 
in  the  same  order. 

"The  noise  they  make  in  their  transit,  heard  from  a 
distance,  sounds  like  a  far-off  storm.  In  the  heat  of  the 
sun,  and  in  tempests,  they  keep  near  the  bottom ;  at 
other  times,  they  swim  a  little  below  the  surface.  In 
fair  weather,  they  move  slowly,  sporting  as  they  go,  at 
the  surface,  and  wandering  again  and  again  from  their 
direct  route  ;  but,  when  alarmed,  they  dart  forward, with 
such  rapidity,  that  the  eye  can  scarcely  follow  them. 
They  employ  only  three  months  in  ascending  to  the 
sources  of  the  Maragnon,  the  current  of  which  is  re- 
markably rapid, — which  is  at  the  rate  of  nearly  forty 
miles  a  day  ;  in  a  smooth  stream,  or  lake,  their  progress 

*  It  is  somewhat  surprising  to  see  this  ridiculous  fable  gravely  men- 
tioned, even  as  a  report,  by  so  judicious  a  naturalist  as  Mr.  Kirby. — 
H.  D. 

I.  21  vii. 


242  MIGRATION  OF   FISHES 

would  increase  in  a  fourfold  ratio.  Their  tail  is  a  very 
powerful  organ,  and  its  muscles  have  wonderful  energy  ; 
by  placing  it  in  their  mouth,  they  make  of  it  a  very  elas- 
tic spring  ;  for,  letting  it  go  with  violence,  they  raise 
themselves  in  the  air  to  the  height  of  from  twelve  to  fif- 
teen feet,  and  so  clear  the  cataract  which  impedes  their 
course  ;  if  they  fail  in  their  first  attempt,  they  continue 
their  efforts  till  they  have  accomplished  it.*  The  fe- 
male is  said  to  hollow  out  a  long  and  deep  excavation  in 
the  gravelly  bed  of  the  river,  to  receive  her  spawn,  and, 
when  deposited,  to  cover  it  up  ;  but  this  admits  of  some 
doubt. 

"  Among  the  migrations  of  fishes,  I  must  not  neglect 
those,  which  take  place  in  consequence  of  the  water  in 
the  ponds  or  pools  that  they  inhabit  being  dried  up. 
Some  of  these  are  very  extraordinary,  and  prove,  that 
when  the  Creator  gave  being  to  these  animals,  he  fore- 
saw the  circumstances  in  which  they  would  be  placed, 
and  mercifully  provided  them  with  the  means  of  escape 
from  dangers  to  which  they  would  be  necessarily  ex- 
posed. 

u  In  very  dry  summers,  the  fishes,  that  inhabit  the 
above  situations,  are  reduced  often  to  the  last  extremi- 
ties, and  endeavor  to  relieve  themselves,  by  plunging, 
first  their  heads,  and  afterwards  their  whole  bodies,  in 
the  mud,  to  a  considerable  depth.  *  *  * 

"  But  others,  when  reduced  to  this  extremity,  desert 
their  native  pool,  and  travel  in  search  of  another,  that  is 
better  supplied  with  water.  This  has  long  been  known 
of  eels,  which  wind,  by  night,  through  the  grass,  in  search 
of  water,  when  so  circumstanced.  Dr.  Hancock,  iu  the 
Zoological  Journal,  gives  an  account  of  a  species  of  fish, 
called,  by  the  Indians,  the  flat-head  hassar,  and  belong- 
ing to  a  genusf  of  the  family  of  the  Siluridans,  which  is 
instructed  by  its  Creator,  when  the  pools  in  which  they 

*  If  it  be  true  that  the  salmon  which  frequents  the  waters  of  the  Mar- 
agnon  can  clear  a  cataract  of  fifteen  feet  in  height,  in  the  manner  stated 
by  Mr.  Kirby,  it  must  be  a  much  more  powerful  and  active  fish  than  the 
species  found  in  the  British  rivers. — H.  D. 

t  Doras. 


FROM  THE    SEA   INTO   RIVERS.  243 

commonly  reside,  in  very  dry  seasons,  lose  their  water, 
to  take  the  resolution  of  marching  by  land,  in  search  of 
others  in  which  the  water  is  not  evaporated.  These  fish, 
which  grow  to  the  length  of  a  foot,  travel  in  large  droves 
with  this  view  ;  they  move  by  night,  and  their  motion  is 
said  to  be  like  that  of  the  two-footed  lizard.*  A  strong 
serrated  arm  constitutes  the  first  ray  of  its  pectoral  fin. 
Using  this  as  a  kind  of  foot,  it  should  seem,  they  push 
themselves  forward,  by  means  of  their  elastic  tail,  moving 
nearly  as  fast  as  a  man  will  leisurely  walk.  The  strong 
plates  which  envelope  their  body,  probably  facilitate  their 
progress,  in  the  same  manner  as  those  under  the  body  of 
serpents,  which,  in  some  degree,  perform  the  office  of 
feet.  It  is  affirmed,  by  the  Indians,  that  they  are  furnished 
with  an  internal  supply  of  water,  sufficient  for  their  jour- 
ney."! 

*  *  *  * 

.Mr.  Kirby  mentions  some  other  tribes  of  migrating 
fishes  ;  and,  among  these,  one  found  in  Tranquebar,  by 
Daldorff,  which  not  only  creeps  upon  the  shore,  but  even 
climbs  the  fan-palm,  in  pursuit  of  certain  crustaceans 
which  form  its  food.  Its  structure  is  admirably  adapted 
to  this  extraordinary  instinct.  The  lobes  of  its  gill- 
covers  are  so  divided  and  armed,  as  to  be  employed  to- 
gether or  separately,  as  hands,  for  the  suspension  of  the 
animal,  till,  by  unsheathing  its  dorsal  and  anal  fins, — 
which  at  other  times  it  folds  up  into  the  cavity  of  its 
body, — and,  fixing  them  in  the  bark,  it  prepares  to  take 
another  step. 

How  curious  are  these  contrivances,  and  how  varied 
the  resources  of  the  Author  of  Nature  !  The  instances 
now  mentioned,  however,  are,  in  reality,  no  more  worthy 
of  attention  than  the  instincts  of  those  animals  with  which 
we  are  most  familiar.  We  are  only  more  surprised  and 
impressed  with  them,  on  account  of  their  peculiarity. 
The  hand  of  a  wonder-working  God  is  every  where. 

*  Bipes.     t  Kirby's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.  pp.  116 — 122. 


244  MIGRATION  OF   EELS. 


NINTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

MIGRATION  OF  EELS. 

THE  following  observations  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy, 
in  his  '  Salmonia,'  on  the  migration  of  eels,  are  too 
curious  to  be  omitted. 

"  There  are  two  migrations  of  eels,  one /row,  and  the 
other  /o,  the  sea  :  the  first,  in  spring  and  summer  ;  the 
second,  in  autumn,  or  early  in  winter  : — the  first,  of  very 
small  eels,  which  are  sometimes  not  more  than  two,  or 
two  and  a  half  inches  long;  the  second,  of  large  eels, 
which  sometimes  are  three  or  four  feet  long,  and  weigh 
from  ten  to  fifteen,  or  even  twenty  pounds.  There  is 
great  reason  to  believe,  that  all  eels  found  in  fresh  water 
are  the  results  of  the  first  migration.*  They  appear,  in 
millions,  in  April  and  May,  and  sometimes  continue  to 
rise  as  late  even  as  July  and  the  beginning  of  August. 
I  remember  this  was  the  case  in  Ireland, in  1823.  It  had 
been  a  cold  backward  summer  ;  and  when  I  was  at  Bal- 
lyshannon,  about  the  end  of  July,  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
which  had  been  in  flood  all  this  month,  under  the  fall, 
was  blackened  by  millions  of  little  eels,  about  as  long  as 
the  finger,  which  were  constantly  urging  their  way  up 
the  moist  rocks  by  the  side  of  the  fall.  Thousands  died  ; 
but  their  bodies  remaining  moist,  served  as  a  ladder  for 

*Mr.  Mudie,in  his  volume  on  the  *  Sea,'  observes,  that  the  brackish 
water  at  the  mouth  of  rivers  is  warmer,  by  two  or  three  degrees,  than 
the  water  either  in  the  sea  itself,  or  in  the  river,  a  circumstance  which 
he  accounts  for,  by  the  chemical  action  of  the  saline  substances  in  the 
sea  on  the  fresh  water.  He  supposes  that  eels  and  other  kinds  of  fish, 
resort  to  estuaries,  on  account  of  the  warmth  ;  and  he  adds,  that,  "  in 
the  case  of  the  eel,  this  heat  brings  forward  the  spawn  till  it  is  ready 
to  be  deposited  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  done  by  the  generality  of 
oviparous  fishes:"  and  he  considers  this  to  be  proved  by  the  fact, 
"that  the  young  eels  are  observed  ascending  the  rivers  in  great  num- 
bers, during  the  following  season,  while  no  young  eel  is,  at  the  same 
time,  found  either  descending  the  stream,  or  crossing  the  river." — 
Mudie's  Sea,  p.  68. 


MIGRATION   OF  EELS.  245 

others  to  make  their  way  ;  and  I  saw  them  ascending 
even  perpendicular  stones,  making  their  road  through  wet 
moss,  or  adhering  to  some  eels  that  had  died  in  the  at- 
tempt. Such  is  the  energy  of  these  little  animals,  that 
they  continue  to  find  their  way,  in  immense  numbers,  to 
Loch  Erne.  The  same  thing  happened  at  the  Fall  of 
Bann,  and  Loch  Neagh  is  thus  peopled  with  them.  Even 
the  mighty  Fall  of  SchafFhausen,  does  not  prevent  them 
from  making  their  way  to  the  Lake  of  Constance,  where 
I  have  seen  many  very  large  eels. 

"  There  are  eels  in  the  Lake  of  Neufchatel,  which 
communicates  by  a  stream  with  the  Rhine  ;  but  there 
are  none  in  the  Leman  Lake,  because  the  Rhone  makes 
a  subterraneous  fall  below  Geneva ;  and  though  small 
eels  can  pass  by  moss,  or  mount  rocks,  they  cannot 
penetrate  limestone,  or  move  against  a  rapid  descending 
current  of  water,  passing,  as  it  were,  through  a  pipe. 
Again,  no  eels  mount  the  Danube  from  the  Black  Sea  ; 
and  there  are  none  found  in  the  great  extent  of  lakes, 
swamps,  and  rivers,  communicating  with  the  Danube, 
though  some  of  these  lakes  and  morasses  are  wonderfully 
fitted  for  them  ;  and  though  they  are  found  abundantly 
in  the  same  countries,  in  lakes  and  rivers  connected  with 
the  ocean  and  the  Mediterranean  ;  yet,  when  brought 
into  confined  water  in  the  Danube,  they  fatten  and  thrive 
there. 

"  As  to  the  instinct  which  leads  young  eels  to  seek 
fresh  water,  it  is  difficult  to  reason  :  probably  they  pre- 
fer warmth;  and,  swimming  at  the  surface, in  the  early 
summer,  find  the  lighter  water  warmer,  and  likewise  con- 
taining more  insects,  and  so  pursue  the  courses  of  fresh 
water,  as  the  waters  from  the  land,  at  this  season,  become 
warmer  than  those  of  the  sea.  Mr.  Couch  says,  (Lin. 
Trans.,  part  14,  p.  70,)  that  the  little  eels,  according 
to  his  observation,  are  produced  within  reach  of  the  tide, 
and  climb  round  falls  to  reach  fresh  water  from  the  sea. 
I  have  sometimes  seen  them,  in  spring,  swimming  in 
immense  shoals  in  the  Atlantic,  in  Mount  Bay,  making 
their  way  to  the  mouths  of  small  brooks  and  rivers. 
When  the  cold  water  from  the  autumnal  floods  begins  to 
21* 


246  MIGRATION  OF   EELS. 

swell  the  rivers,  this  fish  tries  to  return  to  the  sea  ;  but 
numbers  of  the  smaller  ones  hide  themselves  during  the 
winter  in  the  mud,  and  many  of  them  form,  as  it  were, 
masses  together. 

u  Various  authors  have  recorded  the  migration  of  eels 
in  a  singular  way,  such  as  Dr.  Plot,  who,  in  his  History 
of  Staffordshire,  says,  that  they  pass  in  the  night,  across 
meadows,  from  one  pond  to  another  ;*  and  Mr.  Ander- 
son (Trans.  Royal  Soc.)  gives  a  distinct  account  of  small 
eels  rising  up  the  floodgates  and  posts  of  the  waterworks 
of  the  city  of  Norwich  ;  and  they  made  their  way  to  the 
water  above,  though  the  boards  were  smooth  planed,  and 
five  or  six  feet  perpendicular.  He  says,  when  they  first 
rose  out  of  the  water,  upon  the  dry  board,  they  rested  a 
little,  which  seemed  to  be  till  their  slime  was  thrown  out, 
and  sufficiently  glutinous,  and  then  they  rose  up  the  per- 
pendicular ascent  as  if  they  had  been  moving  on  a  plain 
surface.  There  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt,  that  they  are 
assisted  by  their  small  scales,  which,  placed  like  those  of 
serpents,  must  facilitate  their  progressive  motion.  These 
motions  have  been  microscopically  observed  by  Leuwen- 
hoek,  (Phil.  Trans,  vol.  iv.) 

"  Eels  migrate  from  the  salt  water,  of  different  sizes  ; 
but, I  believe, never,  when  they  are  above  afoot  long, 
and  the  great  mass  of  them  are  only  from  two  and  a  half 
to  four  inches.  They  feed,  grow,  and  fatten,  in  fresh 
water.  In  small  rivers,  they  are  seldom  very  large  ;  but 
in  large  deep  lakes,  they  become  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm, 
or  even  leg  ;  and  all  those  of  a  considerable  size, attempt 
to  return  to  the  sea.,in  October  or  November.  Those 
that  are  not  of  the  largest  size,  pass  the  winter  in  the 
deepest  parts  of  the  mud  of  rivers  and  lakes,  and  do  not 
seem  to  eat  much,  and  remain,  I  believe,  almost  torpid. 

*  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  eels  occasionally  leave  the  water  for 
the  land.  Mr.  Jesse,  who  is  an  accurate  inquirer,  says,  "  Eels  certainly 
come  upon  grass  lands,  to  feed  at  night  upon  worms  and  snails.  In  the 
meadows  at  Barford,  in  Warwickshire,  they  have  been  cut  in  two  by 
the  mowers,  and  an  old  keeper  there, assured  a  friend  of  mine,  that  he 
had  frequently  intercepted  them,  on  their  way  back  to  the  river,  early 
in  the  morning.  Their  movements  on  land  were  very  quick." — Jesse's 
Gleanings,  3d  series,  p.  68. 


MIGRATION   OF   EELS.  247 

Their  increase  is  certainly  not  known  in  any  given  time, 
but  must  depend  on  the  quantity  of  their  food  ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  they  do  not  become  of  the  largest  size,  from 
the  smallest,  in  one  or  even  two  seasons.  As  very  large 
eels,  after  having  migrated,  never  return  to  the  river  again, 
they  must  (for  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  they  all  die  im- 
mediately in  the  sea)  remain  in  salt  water  ;  and  there  is 
great  probability  that  they  are  then  confounded  with  the 
conger,  which  is  found  of  different  colors  and  sizes,  from 
the  smallest  to  the  largest,  from  a  few  ounces  to  one 
hundred  pounds  weight." 

I  shall  conclude  this  paper,  with  some  observations  of 
Mr.  Jesse,  [in  his  '  Gleanings,']  on  the  hybernation  of 
eels.  "  That  eels  hybernate  during  the  cold  months, 
there  can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt,  few  or  none  being 
caught, at  that  time.  I  have  endeavored  also,  but  with- 
out success,  to  procure  eels  in  the  winter,  from  those 
places  in  the  river  Thames,  where,  I  have  every  reason 
to  believe,  they  go  to  spawn.  I  read  an  account  which, 
if  correct,  would  serve  to  prove  what  I  have  now  stated. 
A  boy  at  Arthurstown,  in  the  county  of  Wexford,  per- 
ceived something  of  a  very  unusual  appearance  floundering 
upon  the  sand  at  low  water.  Upon  a  nearer  approach 
he  found  it  to  be  a  quart  bottle,  which  showed  many 
symptoms  of  animation.  He  seized  it,  and  brought  it  in. 
It  was  found  to  contain  an  eel  so  much  thicker  than  the 
neck  of  the  bottle,  that  it  must  be  supposed  the  eel  made 
its  lodgement  there,  when  it  was  younger,  and  of  course 
smaller.  It  was  necessary  to  break  the  bottle  for  the 
purpose  of  liberating  the  fish. 

"  If  this  account  be  true,  it  goes  to  prove,  in  a  curious 
way,  as  far  as  one  instance  can  do  so,  the  propensity 
which  eels  have  to  hybernate,  during  the  cold  months. 
It  also  seems  to  prove,  that  they  do  this  in  the  tide-way 
if  they  can,  and  that  they  neither  feed  nor  deposit  their 
spawn  till  the  season  of  hybernation  is  over.  It  is,  in- 
deed, a  general  opinion  among  old  fishermen  that  eels  can- 
not bear  cold."* 

*  [If  Mr.  Jesse  had  ever  been  in  Boston,  during  the  winter,  he  could 
have  entertained  no  doubt  regarding  the  hybernation  of  eels,  and  could 


248  NEW-YEAR'S  DAY. 


NINTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 
NEW-YEAR'S  DAY. 

IT  is  said  to  be  the  custom,  in  some  nations,  to  mourn 
at  the  birth  of  a  child,  because  of  the  anticipated  evils 
which  it  is  destined  to  endure  in  this  vale  of  tears.  This 
is,  doubtless,  to  form  a  false  estimate  of  human  life,  in 
which,  on  the  average,  pleasure  far  predominates  over 
pain  ;  and  surely  the  contrary  custom  of  rejoicing  when 
another  rational  and  immortal  creature  is  brought  into  ex- 
istence, is  much  more  justifiable.  But  I  am  not  certain 
that  the  same  principle  will  apply  to  the  birth  of  a  new 
year.  There  are  so  many  recollections  of  past  delin- 
quencies and  omissions,  and  of  losses  that  can  never  be 
repaired,  to  unite  with  anticipations  of  the  future ;  so 
much  to  regret  as  well  as  to  fear;  that  the  thoughtless 
levity  with  which  this  first  day  of  another  annual  cycle  is 
generally  ushered  in,  seems  to  be  altogether  misplaced. 
We  should  certainly  do  what  is  at  once  more  reasonable 
and  more  edifying,  were  we  to  spend  the  first  hours  of  a 
new  year  in  solemn  meditation,  both  on  the  year  which 
has  fleeted  away,  and  on  that  which  has  just  commenced. 

But,  in  such  an  exercise,  while  there  is  cause  of  self- 
accusation  and  of  sorrow,  there  is  also  ground  for  grati- 
tude, for  hope,  and  for  enjoyment.  The  protecting  care 
of  an  overruling  Providence,  is  a  fruitful  source  of  these 
feelings,  whether  we  regard  external  Nature,  or  reflect 

have  seen  as  many  of  them  caught,  as  he  pleased.  They  lie  at  that  time 
in  great  numbers,  and,  no  doubt,  in  a  torpid  state,  imbedded  in  the  mud 
of  our  flats,  or  shallow  waters,  near  the  shores.  Quite  an  animated 
scene  is  often  presented  by  companies  of  eel-fishers,  who  cut  holes  in 
the  ice  over  these  retreats,  through  which  they  busily  spear  their  prey, 
with  an  instrument  of  several  barbed  prongs,  having  a  long  wooden 
handle.  When  the  eels  are  brought  up  on  the  ice,  they  move  about 
uneasily,  but  not  so  briskly,  by  any  means,  as  they  would  in  warmer 
weather. — AM.  ED.] 


NEW-YEAR'S  DAY.  249 

on  our  own  individual  experience  of  the  guidance  and 
protection  of  a  Father's  unseen  hand. 

When  Nature  lies  clothed  in  the  cold  and  cheerless 
mantle  of  winter,  all  seems  dreary,  and  desolate,  and 
hopeless.  She  is,  however,  only  in  a  state  of  repose. 
Rest  was  necessary  to  recruit  her  exhausted  strength. 
But, during  her  repose,  the  hand  of  Him  who  "  slumber- 
eth  not,"  has  been  working  in  secret.  The  germs  of  fu- 
ture plants  and  flowers  have  been  wonderfully  preserved  : 
insects,  reptiles,  birds,  and  beasts,  have  all  partaken  of  a 
Father's  care  ;  and  His  rational  creatures  have  been  ena- 
bled, by  employing  the  higher  powers  with  which  He  has 
gifted  them,  to  provide  for  the  supply  of  their  more  nu- 
merous necessities  and  comforts. 

And  now,a  new  scene  appears.  The  sun  has  changed 
his  course,  and  begins  again  to  take  a  wider  course  in  the 
heavens.  Soon  his  warmth,  and  glory,  and  genial  influ- 
ence will  return.  Nature  will  burst  anew  into  life,  and 
beauty,  and  joy.  The  husbandman  will  once  more  ply 
his  labors,  while  hope  cheers  his  toil ;  and,  all  around, 
the  cattle  crop  the  tender  herbage  as  it  rises,  and  the 
bleating  lambs  play  amidst  the  flocks  scattered  over  the 
neighboring  hills  ;  and 

The  lark,  high  poised, 
Makes  heaven's  blue  concave  vocal  with  his  lay. 

As  the  year  advances,  summer  will  again  smile,  and 
will  cast  from  her  green  lap  a  profusion  of  flowers  ;  and, 
when  she  has  fulfilled  her  course,  autumn  will  return 
crowned  with  plenty.  Last  of  all,  amidst  a  thousand 
varied  and  most  bountiful  preparations  for  the  sustenance 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  during  the  rigors  of  an 
ungenial  sky,  winter  will  arrive,  and  once  more  prepare 
the  earth,  by  a  night  of  rest,  for  the  labors  of  the  coming 
year. 

These  wonders  of  Divine  providence  need  only  to  be 
mentioned,  to  show  with  what  consummate  skill  and 
goodness  God  accommodates  the  seasons  to  the  comfort, 
the  convenience,  and  the  happiness  of  every  thing  that 
lives,  and  especially  of  the  human  family.  While  the 


250 

labor,  to  which  man  is  doomed,  strengthens  his  bodily 
powers,  and  rouses,  exercises,  and  sharpens  his  mental 
Faculties,  the  changes,  which  are  continually  taking  place, 
are  highly  conducive  to  his  improvement  and  happiness. 
Sameness  deadens  curiosity,  and  satiates  enjoyment. 
We  are  so  constituted,  as  to  require  constant  vicissitudes 
for  stimulating  the  mind,  and  giving  relish  to  our  exer- 
cises ;  and  in  each  season  of  the  year  we  find  employ- 
ments suitable  to  our  faculties,  and  calculated  to  afford 
them  agreeable  and  useful  occupation.  Even  in  winter, 
cold  and  comfortless  as  it  appears,  how  much  do  we  find 
to  make  us  both  happier  and  better.  The  family  circle, 
collected  in  the  long  evenings  round  the  cheerful  winter 
fire,  feel  those  affections  warmed, which  soften  the  heart 
without  enfeebling  it,  and  those  domestic  endearments 
increased  by  exercise,  without,  which  life  is  scarcely  de- 
sirable ;  while  the  soul,  enlightened  and  enlarged,  is  bet- 
ter prepared  to  receive  impressions  of  religion,  to  love 
Him  who  first  loved  us, — and,  rising  to  more  exalted 
views,  to  aspire  after  the  society  of  the  just  made  perfect, 
in  the  world  of  spirits. 

The  paternal  care  of  the  Supreme  Being,  thus  strongly 
impressed  on  the  mind,  by  contemplating  the  traces  of 
His  beneficence,  which  are  every  where  conspicuous  in 
the  seasons  as  they  revolve,  are  calculated  to  reassure 
the  mind,  in  looking  forward  to  that  great  change,  of  the 
approach  of  which  we  are  forcibly  reminded  by  the  pass- 
ing away  of  another  year,  of  the  short  and  uncertain  pe- 
riod allotted  us  on  earth.  We,  too,  have  our  spring, 
our  summer,  our  autumn,  and  our  winter.  Will  another 
spring  dawn  on  the  winter  of  the  grave  ?  To  the  en- 
couraging answer  which  Revelation  gives  to  this  impor- 
tant question,  is  added  our  experience  of  the  operations 
of  the  God  of  the  Seasons.  Under  His  administration, 
nothing  perishes,  though  every  thing  changes.  The 
flowers  die  but  to  live  again.  In  the  animal  world,  many 
species  sleep  out  the  winter,  to  awake  again  in  a  new 
season.  Nature  itself  expires  and  revives ;  even  while 
she  lies  prostrate  and  rigid,  an  Almighty  hand  preserves 
the  germs  of  future  life,  that  she  may  once  more  start 


NEW-YEAR'S  DAY.  251 

from  the  grave,  and  run  a  new  round  of  beauty,  anima- 
tion, and  enjoyment.  Is  there  not  hope,  then,  -for  the 
human  soul  ?  Shall  not  the  same  paternal  goodness  watch 
over  it  in  its  seeming  extinction,  and  cause  it  to  survive 
the  winter  of  death  ?  Yes,  there  is  hope  here,  but  there 
is  no  assurance.  It  is  from  the  word  of  inspiration  alone 
that  the  assurance  of  immortality  springs.  That  book  of 
unerring  truth  informs  us,  that, after  our  mortal  winter, 
there  comes  a  spring  of  unfading  beauty  and  eternal  joy, 
where  no  cold  chills,  and  no  heat  scorches  ;  where  there 
is  bloom  without  decay,  and  a  sky  without  a  cloud. 

But  let  it  never  be  forgotten,  that  the  prospect  which 
lies  before  us  is  not  all  bright  and  smiling.  The  same 
book  of  truth  which  reveals  to  us  our  immortal  nature, 
informs  us,  also,  that,  in  the  unseen  world  to  which  we 
are  travelling,  there  is  a  state  of  misery  as  well  as  a  state 
of  blessedness ;  that  we  are  now,  step  by  step,  ap- 
proaching the  one  or  the  other  of  these  states  ;  and  that 
each  successive  year,  as  it  passes  over  our  heads,  instead 
of  leading  us  upward  to  the  unchanging  glories  which 
belong  to  the  children  of  God,  may  be  only  conducting 
us  downward,  on  that  road  which  "  leadeth  to  destruc- 
tion.'7 

This  is  inexpressibly  dreadful  !  And  when  we  think 
of  our  own  character  and  qualifications,  we  shall  find 
nothing  calculated  to  allay  our  terrors.  If,  from  the  ele- 
vated spot  on  which  we  now  stand,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  new  stage  of  our  journey,  we  look  back  on 
the  scenes  through  which  we  have  passed,  and  reflect 
on  the  transactions  in  which  we  have  been  engaged, 
what  shall  we  discover  that  can  recommend  us  to  Him 
"  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity  ?"  If, 
again,  we  look  forward,  what  a  scene  of  turmoil  and 
disorder,  temptation  and  danger,  do  we  descry  in  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness  !  When  we  think  of  the  weakness 
of  our  own  hearts,  and  of  the  enemies  we  have  to  en- 
counter— so  numerous  and  so  formidable — we  cannot 
fail  to  be  appalled,  and  to  experience  the  same  kind  of 
misgiving  which  led  an  apostle  to  exclaim,  "Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things  !" 


252  NEW-YEAR'S  DAY. 

But  when,  in  the  exercise  of  faith,  we  turn  to  the 
Gospel,  a  more  blessed  view  opens  to  us ;  for  it  is  full 
of  the  most  encouraging  promises  to  those  who  will  ac- 
cept of  them.  It  tells  us  of  "the  Lord  God  merciful 
and  gracious,  long  suffering  and  slow  to  anger,  abundant 
in  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercy  ;"  and,  in  proof  of 
this  character,  it  reminds  us  of  the  impartial  manner  in 
which  the  Creator  employs  inanimate  nature  for  the  good 
of  His  creatures,  "making  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good, and  sending  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  un- 
just ;"  it  reminds  us,  also,  of  the  parental  affection  with 
which  His  own  exuberant  bounty  has  inspired  the  animal 
creation,  and,  taking  an  example  from  the  inferior  tribes, 
it  beautifully  declares,  that  "as  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her 
nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her 
wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings,"  so  He 
watches  over  His  rational  offspring,  delighting  to  lead, 
instruct,  and  bless  them.  Rising  still  higher,  it  reminds 
us  of  the  tenderness  He  has  infused  into  the  mind  of 
earthly  parents,  and  says,  "  If  you  being  evil,  know  how 
to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more 
shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to 
them  that  ask  Him."  Nay,  it  represents  the  Eternal  as 
condescending  to  compare  his  regard  for  his  people, 
with  that  of  a  fond  mother  for  the  infant  smiling  upon  her 
knee,  "Can  a  mother  forget  her  sucking  child,  that  she 
should  not  have  compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb  ? 
yea,  she  may  forget ;  yet  will  I  not  forget  thee."  It  does 
much  more  ;  it  reveals  to  us  the  wonders  of  redeeming 
love,  presenting  to  our  view  the  Son  of  the  Eternal 
humbling  himself  for  our  sakes,  to  assume  the  form  of 
a  servant;  becoming  a  man  of  sorrows;  submitting  to 
ignominy,  torture,  and  death  ;  and  then  it  crowns  all,  by 
making  this  unanswerable  appeal,  "  If  God  spared  not 
His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall 
He  not,  with  Him,  also  freely  give  us  all  things  !" 

Such  is  the  unspeakable  encouragement  which  the 
Christian  derives  from  the  Gospel  of  his  Divine  Master. 
And  shall  we  not  "  work  out  our  own  salvation,  seeing 
it  is  God  who  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of 


MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB.  253 

his  good  pleasure  ?"  In  this  mighty  task,  we  cannot  in- 
deed avoid  being  affected  with  "  fear  and  trembling," 
when  we  reflect  on  what  we  have  at  stake ;  but  we  have 
also  every  thing  to  hope,  for  He  who  is  for  us,  is  great- 
er than  all  that  can  be  against  us ;  and  the  value  of  the 
prize  which  is  set  before  us  is  inestimable. 


NINTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB. 

As  I  do  not  intend  to  resume,  in  any  other  part  of  this 
work,  the  subject  of  migration,  I  shall  now  notice  one 
other  migratory  animal,  which  deserts  its  usual  haunts 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  an  appropriate  spot  for  deposit- 
ing its  eggs,  and  whose  instinct,  in  this  respect,  is  pecu- 
liarly remarkable.  I  allude  to  the  land-crab.  It  is 
noticed  by  Kirby,  but  I  shall  chiefly  follow  the  account 
given  in  c  Goldsmith's  Animated  Nature,'  which  con- 
tains most  of  the  particulars  known  of  this  extraordinary 
little  animal,  and  from  which  the  description  of  it,  both 
in  the  work  already  mentioned,  and  in  the  Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia,  seems  to  be  principally  drawn. 

The  crab  is  of  the  same  kind  with  the  lobster,  which 
in  many  particulars  it  resembles.  The  residence  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  species  is  in  the  waters ;  but  that 
which  I  am  now  about  to  present  to  my  readers,  is  en- 
tirely an  inhabitant  of  the  land,  being  found  chiefly  among 
the  mountainous  ranges  of  the  Caribbee  Islands  ;  and 
although  it  has  gills  like  a  fish,  it  speedily  perishes  when 
submerged.  There  is  one  occasion,  however,  and  only 
one,  when  it  seeks  the  seacoast,  and  seems  to  prove, 
not  only  by  its  form,  but  by  its  habits,  its  affinity  to  its 
congeners  of  the  ocean ;  and  that  is,  when  it  is  about  to 
wash  off  or  deposit  its  eggs.  It  would  seem  that  the  eggs 
of  this  creature,  which  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance  to 
i.  22  vn. 


254  MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB. 

the  spawn  of  fish,  require  to  be  hatched  in  the  sea.  The 
crab  is  warned  of  this  by  its  instinct ;  and,  though  its 
usual  residence  is  in  mountainous  districts,  at  a  consid- 
erable distance  from  the  shore,  where  it  lives  on  roots 
and  vegetables,  and  where  its  habits  are  exceedingly  re- 
tired, it  undertakes  a  tedious  and  perilous  journey,  in 
obedience  to  the  first  law  of  its  nature.  The  form  of 
this  animal  is  little  fitted  for  travelling.  It  is  thus  graphi- 
cally described  by  Goldsmith: — "  The  violet-crab  some- 
what resembles  two  hands,  cut  through  the  middle,  and 
joined  together  ;  for  each  side  looks  like  four  fingers,  and 
the  two  nippers  or  claws  resemble  the  thumbs.  All  the 
rest  of  the  body  is  covered  with  a  shell  as  large  as  a 
man's  hand,  and  bunched  in  the  middle,  on  the  fore-part 
of  which  there  are  two  long  eyes,  of  the  size  of  a  grain 
of  barley,  as  transparent  as  crystal,  and  as  hard  as  horn. 
A  little  below  these,  is  the  mouth,  covered  with  a  sort 
of  barbs,  under  which  there  are  two  broad  sharp  teeth, 
as  white  as  snow.  They  are  not  placed,  as  in  other  ani- 
mals, cross  ways,  but  in  an  opposite  direction,  not  much 
unlike  the  blades  of  a  pair  of  scissors.  With  these  teeth 
they  can  easily  cut  leaves,  fruits,  and  rotten  wood,  which 
is  their  usual  food.  But  their  principal  instrument  for 
cutting  and  seizing  their  food,  is  their  nippers,  which 
catch  such  a  hold,  that  the  animal  loses  the  limb  sooner 
than  its  grasp,  and  is  often  seen  scampering  off,  having 
left  its  claw  still  holding  fast  upon  its  enemy.7'* 

*  [The  description  given  above,  of  the  form  of  the  land-crab,  is  not 
of  much  value  ;  for  Goldsmith,  though  an  elegant  writer  both  of  poetry 
and  prose,  was  no  naturalist.  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  for  the  information 
of  general  readers,  that  the  land-crab  (GECARCINUS)  resembles  the  sea- 
crab,  except  that  its  body  or  carapace  is  remarkably  full  and  rounded. 
The  writer  of  this  note  saw  thousands  of  them  in  Cuba,  and  is  this  mo- 
ment writing,  with  one  of  them,  a  dried  specimen,  before  him.  This 
is  a  large  individual,  of  a  uniform  pale  ash  color.  The  main  facts  which 
may  be  relied  on,  in  the  history  of  this  curious  genus,  are  given  in  the 
following  brief  summary  by  Latreille. 

"  The  crabs  pass  the  greatest  part  of  their  life  on  land,  hiding  them- 
selves in  holes,  and  not  coming  forth  till  evening.  Some  keep  about 
cemeteries.  Once  a  year,  when  they  would  lay  their  eggs,  they  assem- 
ble in  numerous  bands,  and  move  in  the  shortest  direction  to  the  sea, 
without  caring  for  any  obstacles.  After  they  have  finished  their  deposit, 
they  return  much  weakened.  It  is  said  that  they  block  up  their  bur- 


MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB.  255 

Such  is  the  creature  whose  extraordinary  instinct  we 
are  about  to  describe.  Among  the  mountains,  they  live 
in  a  kind  of  orderly  community,  usually  burrowing  in  the 
earth,  in  the  midst  of  inaccessible  retreats.  They  choose 
the  month  of  April  or  May  to  begin  their  expedition, 
and  then  sally  out  by  thousands  from  the  stumps  of  hol- 
low trees,  from  the  clefts  of  the  rocks,  and  from  the 
holes  which  they  dig  for  themselves  under  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  The  procession  sets  forward  with  the  regu- 
larity of  a  well-disciplined  army.  They  are  commonly 
divided  into  three  battalions,  of  which  the  first  consists 
of  the  strongest  and  boldest  males,  that,  like  pioneers, 
march  forward  to  clear  the  route,  and  face  the  greatest 
dangers.  The  main  body  of  the  army  is  composed  of 
females,  which  never  leave  the  mountains  till  the  rain  is 
set  in  for  some  time,  and  these  descend  in  regular  array, 
being  formed  into  columns  sometimes  of  fifty  paces  broad, 
and  three  miles  long,  and  so  close  that  there  is  no  set- 
ting down  one's  foot,  without  treading  on  some  of  them. 
Three  or  four  days  after  this,  the  rear-guard  follows,  a 
straggling  undisciplined  tribe,  consisting  of  males  and  fe- 
males, neither  so  robust  nor  so  numerous  as  the  former. 
The  sea  being  the  place  of  their  destination,  to  that  they 
direct  their  march,  with  right-lined  precision,  turning 
neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  the  left,  except  compelled 
by  absolute  necessity,  and  attempting  even  to  scale  the 
walls  of  houses  which  may  be  in  their  way,  rather  than 
be  diverted  from  their  direct  course.  u  At  this  sea- 
son," says  Mr.  Barclay,  speaking  of  what  happens  in 
Jamaica,  in  a  paper  published  in  the  New  Edinburgh 
Philosophical  Journal,  "  it  is  impossible  to  keep  them 
out  of  the  houses,  or  even  out  of  the  bedrooms,  where, 
at  one  time  scratching  with  their  large  claws,  and  at 
another  rattling  across  the  floor,  they  make  a  noise  that 
would  not  a  little  astonish  and  alarm  a  stranger."  The 
night  is  their  chief  time  of  proceeding  ;  but,  if  it  rains  by 

rows  during  their  moult  ;  and  their  flesh  is  then  much  esteemed,  al- 
though it  is  sometimes  poisonous.  This  quality  is  attributed  to  the 
fruit  of  the  manchineel,  of  which  the  people  think,  falsely  perhaps,  that 
the  crabs  have  eaten." — AM.  ED.] 


256  MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB. 

day,  they  do  not  fail  to  profit  by  the  occasion,  continuing 
to  move  forward  in  their  slow  uniform  manner.  When 
the  sun  shines,  and  is  hot  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
they  make  a  universal  halt,  and  wait  till  the  cool  of  the 
evening.  When  terrified,  they  move  back  in  a  confused 
disorderly  manner,  holding  up  their  nippers  as  a  weapon 
of  offence,  and  clattering  them  together,  as  if  to  threaten 
with  vengeance  those  who  disturb  them.  It  is  remarka- 
ble, that  if  any  of  them  get  maimed  on  their  journey, 
and  unable  to  proceed,  instead  of  leaving  them  to  fall  a 
prey  to  their  enemies,  their  companions  fall  upon  them, 
and  tear  them  to  pieces  ;  and,  although  not  naturally 
carnivorous  animals,  they  are  said  to  devour  them  on 
the  spot. 

After  escaping  a  thousand  dangers,  in  the  course  of  a 
march,  which  sometimes  occupies  three  months,  they  at 
last  arrive  at  the  shore,  and  prepare  to  cast  their  spawn. 
The  eggs  are  still  within  their  bodies,  not  being  as  yet 
excluded,  as  is  usual  in  animals  of  this  kind,  into  a  re- 
ceptacle under  their  tail.  But  no  sooner  does  the  crab 
reach  the  shore,  than  it  eagerly  goes  to  the  edge  of  the 
water,  and  lets  the  waves  wash  over  its  body  two  or  three 
times.  This  seems  to  be  a  necessary  preparation  for  bring- 
ing the  spawn  to  maturity  ;  and  without  further  delay, 
it  withdraws  to  seek  a  lodging  on  land.  The  spawn  now 
grows  rapidly  larger,  is  excluded  from  the  body,  and 
sticks  to  the  barbs  under  the  flaps  of  the  tail.  This  bunch 
is  seen  as  big  as  a  hen's  egg,  and  exactly  resembling 
the  roes  of  herrings.  In  this  state,  the  crabs  once  more 
seek  the  shore  ;  and  shaking  off  the  spawn  into  the  water, 
leave  it  to  be  hatched  by  the  united  influence  of  the  sea 
and  a  tropical  sun,  and  immediately  begin  their  retreat 
to  the  mountains,  which,  however,  their  exhausted  state 
often  prevents  them  from  ever  again  being  able  to  reach, 
especially  as  they  are  said  to  moult  or  cast  their  shells  by 
the  way.  It  has  been  stated  that  whole  shoals  of  hungry 
fish  are,  at  this  time,  watching  the  shore,  in  expectation 
of  the  annual  supply  which  Providence  has  thus  provided 
for  them.  However  this  may  be,  millions  escape  the 
rapacity  of  these  enemies  ;  and,  soon  after,  an  immense 


MIGRATION  OF  THE  LAND-CRAB.  257 

tribe  of  little  crabs  is  seen  quitting  the  shore,  and  slowly 
travelling  up  to  the  mountains.  Mr.  Barclay,  in  the  pa- 
per already  alluded  to,  gives  a  striking  description  of  a 
migration  of  these  singular  animals,  which  he  himself 
witnessed  in  Jamaica,  but  which  he  seems  to  consider  as 
altogether  unusual  in  that  island,  at  least  to  the  extent 
which  he  details.  "On  descending  Quahill,"  says  this 
gentleman,  "from  the  vale  of  Plaintain-garden  River,  the 
road  appeared  of  a  reddish  color,  as  if  strewed  with 
brick-dust.  I  dismounted  from  my  horse  to  examine  the 
cause  of  so  unusual  an  appearance,  and  was  not  a  little 
astonished  to  find  that  it  was  owing  to  myriads  of  young 
black  crabs,*  about  the  size  of  the  nail  of  a  man's  finger, 
crossing  the  road,  and  moving,  at  a  pretty  pace,  direct 
for  the  mountains.  I  was  concerned  to  think  of  the  de- 
struction I  was  causing  in  travelling  through  such  a  body 
of  useful  creatures,  as  I  fancied  that,  every  time  my  horse 
put  down  a  foot,  it  was  the  loss  of  at  least  ten  lives.  I 
rode  along  the  coast,  a  distance  of  at  least  fifteen  miles, 
and  found  it  nearly  the  same  the  whole  way,  only  that,  in 
some  places,  they  were  more  numerous,  in  others  less 
so.  Returning  the  following  day,  I  found  the  road  still 
covered  with  them,  the  same  as  the  day  before. "f  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  this  prodigious  multitude  of  young 
ones,  were  moving  from  a  rock-bound  shore,  formed  by 
inaccessible  cliffs,  the  abode  of  seabirds,  and  against 
which  the  waves  of  the  sea  were  constantly  dashed  by  the 
trade-wind  blowing  directly  upon  them.  That  the  old 
crabs  should  be  able  to  deposit  their  eggs  in  such  a  part 
of  the  coast,  (if  that,  as  would  appear,  is  the  habit  of  the 
animal,)  is  not  a  little  extraordinary. 

The  whole  of  this  well-authenticated  history  is  so  full 

*  This%is  the  same  species  as  that  above  described,  which  is  called 
by  Goldsmith  the  violet  crab. 

t  Mr.  Barclay  expresses  the  utmost  surprise  at  this  phenomenon, 
which  he  declares  to  be  altogether  unprecedented  ;  but  if  it  be  true  that 
the  young  as  well  as  old  crabs,  usually  burrow  through  the  day,  and 
travel  only  by  night,  this  may  partly  account  for  the  appearance  not 
being  familiar  to  the  inhabitants.  On  the  present  occasion,  some  pecu- 
liar state  of  the  atmosphere  may  perhaps  have  led  the  animal  to  devi- 
ate from  its  usual  instinct. 
22* 


258  WINTER  AN  EMBLEM   OF  DEATH. 

of  wonder  and  instruction,  that,  did  space  admit,  I  should 
be  tempted  to  express  the  feelings  to  which  it  naturally 
gives  rise  ;  but  the  conclusions  which  may  be  drawn 
from  it,  in  favor  of  Creative  Intelligence,  are  too  obvious 
to  require  comment,  and  may  be  safely  left  to  the  reflec- 
tions of  the  reader.  The  delicate  food  which  is  thus 
thrown,  as  if  by  the  immediate  hand  of  Providence,  in 
the  way  both  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  and  sea,  will 
not  escape  observation.* 


TENTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

WINTER  AN  EMBLEM  OF  DEATH. 

THE  seasons  of  the  year  have  been  aptly  compared  to 
the  various  stages  in  the  life  of  man.  Spring,  when  Na- 
ture bursts  into  new  life,  and  with  such  grace  spreads 
out  its  growing  charms,  amidst  alternate  smiles  and  tears, 
beautifully  shadows  forth  the  period  of  infancy  and 
youth  ;  summer,  with  its  full-blown  beauties,  and  its  vig- 
orous powers,  represents  the  maturity  of  manhood  ;  au- 
tumn, when  the  golden  harvests  are  reaped,  and  the  fields 
are  stripped  of  their  honors,  and  exhausted  Nature  begins 
to  droop,  is  a  striking  figure  of  the  finished  labors,  the 
gray  hairs,  and  the  advancing  feebleness  of  old  age  ; 
while  winter,  cold,  desolate,  and  lifeless,  indicates,  with 
an  accuracy  not  more  remarkable  than  it  is  affecting,  the 
rigid  features  and  prostrate  energies  of  the  human  frame 
in  death. 

The  close  of  the  year  which  has  just  taken  place,  and 
the  gloom  which  still  continues,  seems  peculiarly  calcu- 
lated to  remind  us  of  human  decay.  The  vital  powers 

*  Mr.  Barclay  says  that  he  has  seen  several  thousand  crabs  caught 
in  one  night  by  the  Negroes,  for  sale  or  home  consumption  ;  and  he 
adds,  that  they  are  one  of  the  greatest  delicacies  in  the  West  Indies. 


WINTER  AN  EMBLEM   OF  DEATH.  259 

which  produced  and  sustained  vegetation  are  withdrawn  ; 
the  forests  are  leafless ;  hill  and  dale  mourn  their  faded 
verdure  ;  and  cheerless  desolation  reigns.  Recollections 
of  the  past,  and  anticipations  of  the  future,  oppress  the 
sensitive  mind.  Let  us  turn  our  thoughts,  then,  on  the 
congenial  subject  of  death  :  it  is  the  common  lot  of  every 
thing  that  lives.  From  the  microscopic  insect  to  man, — 
all  must  die.  Each  has  its  spring,  its  summer,  and  its 
autumn  ; — each,  also,  has  its  winter.  With  some,  life  is 
literally  but  a  single  day, — or  less,  a  few  hours  perhaps ; 
— others  survive  even  the  period  of  human  existence  ; 
but  the  various  stages  of  life  belong  to  the  ephemeron, 
as  well  as  to  the  elephant ;  and  the  former  fulfils  the  end 
of  its  being,  as  well  as  the  latter  ;  while  the  hours  of  the 
one  are  perhaps  equally  pregnant  with  incidents,  as  the 
years  of  the  other. 

Death  is  gloomy  and  revolting,  if  we  look  only  at  its 
externals.  Who,  that  has  seen  a  lifeless  corpse,  has  been 
able  to  remain  unmoved,  by  the  affecting  contrast  to  its 
former  self,  which  it  exhibited  ?  The  closed  and  sunk- 
en eye,  which  erewhile  beamed  with  intelligence,  or  spark- 
led with  delight ;  the  motionless  lips,  which  gave  utter- 
ance to  sentiments  of  wisdom  and  of  piety,  or,  it  may  be, 
of  reckless  folly  and  unblushing  falsehood  ;  the  heart 
which  beat  with  feeling,  and  the  head  which  meditated, 
planned,  and  formed  conclusions,  what  are  they  now  ? 
A  heap  of  lifeless  clay, — a  mass  of  corruption, — food  for 
worms  ! 

But,  when  we  look  deeper,  and  regard  death  with  the 
eye  of  reason  and  religion,  it  assumes  a  very  different 
aspect.  The  body  is  but  the  house  of  the  soul.  The 
feeble  tenement  has  fallen  into  decay,  and  its  living  inmate 
has  removed.  It  is  but  the  covering  in  which  the  chrys- 
alis was  confined  ;  the  time  of  its  change  has  arrived,  and 
it  has  burst  its  shell,  to  expatiate  in  a  new  life  ;  or  rather 
it  is  the  instrument  with  which  an  intelligent  being  per- 
formed its  work  : — the  task  is  finished ;  the  instrument 
is  worn  out,  and  cast  away ;  the  artificer  has  gone  to 
other  labors. 

Such  is  the  conclusion  of  reason  ;  and  the  analogy  of 


260        WINTER  AN  EMBLEM  OF  DEATH. 

Nature  gives  countenance  to  the  view.  Nothing  is  anni- 
hilated. Every  thing,  indeed, — organized  matter  above 
all, — grows  old, corrupts,  and  decays;  but  it  does  not 
cease  to  exist,  it  only  changes  its  form.  The  herbs,  the 
flowers,  and  the  leafy  pride  of  spring  and  summer,  with- 
er, fall,  and  are  mingled  with  their  parent  earth  ;  but  from 
their  mouldering  remains,  elements  are  furnished  which 
clothe  a  new  year  with  vegetable  life,  as  fresh,  and  abun- 
dant, and  lovely  as  before.  Nature  is  not  dead,  but 
sleepeth.  The  seeds,  roots,  and  buds  of  the  year  that  are 
past,  are  preserved,  through  the  rigors  of  winter,  with 
admirable  care,  till  the  voice  of  a  new  spring  calls  them 
once  more  into  life,  that  the  seasons  may  again  run  their 
course,  and  autumn  may  again  spread  her  liberal  feast. 
Neither  does  the  soul  perish.  It  has  "shuffled  off  its 
mortal  coil,"  but  it  has  not  ceased  to  live.  This  is  a 
conclusion  at  which  we  eagerly  arrive. 

What,  then,  has  become  of  this  ethereal  spark  ?  Rea- 
son cannot  tell ;  but  conjecture  has  been  rife.  Some 
have  imagined,  that  the  disembodied  spirit  passes  into 
other  bodies,  and  runs  a  new  course  of  birth,  life,  and 
death,  in  new  forms  ;  that  all  living  things,  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest  grade,  are  possessed  of  souls,  which 
either  have  animated,  or  may  yet  animate,  human  frames  ; 
and  that  a  constant  change  from  species  to  species,  and 
from  individual  to  individual,  is  taking  place,  regulated, 
in  some  mysterious  way,  by  the  law  of  retribution.  This 
ingenious  fancy,  which  has  been  called  the  doctrine  of 
metempsychosis  or  transmigration,  has  been  widely  dis- 
seminated through  the  extensive  regions  of  the  East,  and 
has  given  a  very  peculiar  mould  to  the  practices,  and  even 
to  the  moral  character,  of  those  who  receive  it. 

A  prouder  and  more  metaphysical  philosophy,  which 
prevails  in  the  same  quarter  of  the  world,  has  offered 
another  solution  of  the  question.  All  life,  it  is  said  by 
the  followers  of  this  sect,  is  but  an  emanation  from  the 
great  fountain  of  existence, — a  drop  from  the  universal 
ocean  of  life.  Death  comes,  and  the  emanation  is  ab- 
sorbed ;  the  drop  returns  to  the  ocean,  and  mingles,  un- 
distinguished, with  its  parent  element. 


WINTER  AN  EMBLEM   OF  DEATH.  261 

Another  doctrine,  well  known,  because  associated  with 
all  our  classical  recollections,  is  that  of  Greece  and  Rome; 
which  assigns  to  souls  a  separate  state  of  existence  in  the 
infernal  regions,  where  rewards  and  punishments  are 
awarded,  according  to  the  good  or  evil  deeds  of  a  present 
life.  The  puerile  fables,  false  morality,  and  fanciful  tra- 
ditions, which  are  mingled  with  this  doctrine,  tend  to 
debase  and  render  contemptible,  what  might  otherwise 
be  considered  as  the  germ  of  a  purer  faith. 

All  that  history  records,  or  modern  discoveries  have 
ascertained,  of  the  belief  of  mankind  on  this  subject  of 
vital  importance,  tends  to  show  the  impotence  of  human 
reason  ;  and  shuts  us  up  to  the  revealed  word  of  God,  as 
the  great  source  of  light  and  of  hope  regarding  the  future 
destiny  of  man.  The  soul  survives  the  grave,  but  where 
does  it  go  ?  What  new  forms  of  being  does  it  assume  ? 
What  conflicts  and  what  triumphs  are  reserved  for  it  ? 
These  are  questions  which  curiosity,  that  powerful  prin- 
ciple, unites  with  every  selfish  and  every  ennobling  feel- 
ing of  the  human  heart,  to  urge  on  the  attention.  And 
what  is  the  answer  which  the  Divine  oracles  return  ? 
Man  is  a  sinner,  and  "the  wages  of  sin  is  death."  Such 
is  the  appalling  response.  And  what  is  death  ?  Not  the 
separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body  merely,  but  the  sep- 
aration of  both  soul  and  body  from  God. 

And  is  there  no  remedy  ?  Not  in  the  power  of  man, 
but  in  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God.  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  He  sent  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  on  Him  might  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."  The  Son  of  the  Eternal  God  is  our  Sav- 
iour. He  came  to  earth,  and  assumed  our  form  and  nature, 
that  He  might  take  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 
His  own  words  are,  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 
Whosoever  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 
shall  he  live  ;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me, 
shall  never  die." 

What,  then,  is  death  ?  It  is  to  the  Christian  but  the 
passing  away  of  a  feverish  dream,  and  an  awaking  to  the 
glorious  realities  of  an  endless  and  unclouded  day.  This 
at  least, it  is,  as  far  as  regards  his  soul.  But  his  body 


262  HYBERNATION. 

goes  down  to  the  grave,  and,  for  all  that  we  can  perceive, 
is  finally  resolved  into  its  native  elements.  Yet  it  is  not 
so.  A  germ  remains.  It  is  like  seed  buried  in  winter, 
by  the  sower,  beneath  the  sluggish  soil,  that  it  may  un- 
dergo a  mysterious  change,  and  rise  again  to  life,  in  a  new 
season,  under  a  more  propitious  sky.  The  spring  of  an 
eternal  year  will  come.  It  will  breathe  on  the  dry  bones, 
and  they  shall  live.  Then  shall  the  soul  be  reunited  to 
its  material  frame,  "sown  a  natural  body,  but  raised  a 
spiritual  body ;"  and  this  mysterious  reunion,  which 
seems  essential  to  the  perfect  happiness  of  human  beings, 
will  consummate  the  appointed  period,  when  death,  the 
last  enemy,  shall  be  "  swallowed  up  in  victory ;"  when  time 
itself  shall  perish,  along  with  the  revolution  of  seasons  ; 
and  when  one  vast,  measureless,  incomprehensible  eter- 
nity, shall  embrace  all. 


TENTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

HYBERNATION. OF    QUADRUPEDS THEIR    CLOTHING. 

ONE  obvious  disadvantage  arising  from  the  change  of 
climate  from  heat  to  cold,  is  the  effect  on  the  bodily 
frame,  which,  at  one  season,  is  oppressed  with  the  fervid 
rays  of  an  almost  vertical  sun,  and,  at  another,  made  to 
shiver  under  the  biting  blast  of  a  wintry  sky.  It  was  not 
consistent  with  the  plans  of  Providence  for  our  world, 
that  this  inconvenience  should  be  altogether  compensated 
for  ;  but  the  contrivances  by  which  it  is  alleviated,  and 
rendered  tolerable,  are  truly  wonderful.  One  of  the  most 
familiar  of  these  contrivances,  is  a  change  from  summer 
to  winter  clothing. 

Man  is  born  naked,  but  his  Creator  has  endowed  him 
with  rational  powers,  which  enable  him  to  procure  a 
dress  suited  to  the  various  climes  in  which  he  is  destined 
to  live,  and  to  change  it  with  the  changing  weather,  or 


QUADRUPEDS THEIR  CLOTHING.  263 

his  altered  residence.  The  lower  animals,  not  being  fa- 
vored with  the  high  attribute  of  reason,  have  their  wants', 
with  respect  to  clothing,  attended  to  in  another  way. 
Those  which  reside  under  the  burning  suns  of  the  trop- 
ics, are  remarkable  for  their  covering  of  hair,  and  the 
total  absence  of  wool ;  while  animals  of  the  very  same 
species,  when  resident  in  colder  countries,  are  found  to 
be  clothed  with  a  warmer  covering,  which  becomes  still 
more  abundant  and  woolly  as  we  approach  the  polar  re- 
gions. The  remarkable  change,  in  this  respect,  which 
takes  place  within  a  very  limited  distance,  and  under  no 
very  violent  change  of  temperature,  may  be  exemplified 
by  comparing  the  strong  and  thin  bristles  of  the  Devon- 
shire swine,  with  the  furry  coat  of  those  of  the  Highland 
breed.  As  an  instance  of  this  beneficent  law  of  Nature, 
in  a  more  extensive  range,  we  may  take  the  sheep,  whose 
covering,  in  the  tropical  regions,  is  a  scanty  coat  of  hair, 
which,  on  the  Alpine  ranges  of  Spain,  becomes  a  fine  soft 
and  silky  wool ;  in  the  mainland  of  Britain,  is  changed 
into  a  fleece,  coarser,  indeed,  but  thicker,  and  better 
adapted  to  resist  the  vicissitudes  of  our  changeable  weath- 
er ;  in  the  Shetland  Islands,  undergoes  another  transfor- 
mation, still  more  capable  of  resisting  the  cold  ;  and,  in 
Iceland,  and  other  regions  verging  towards  the  Pole, 
acquires  the  character  of  a  thick  fur,  interspersed  with 
long  and  coarse  hair, — a  provision  which  is  common  to 
the  clothing  of  numerous  northern  tribes,  and  which 
seems  admirably  calculated  at  once  to  foster  the  animal 
heat,  to  give  free  passage  to  the  insensible  perspiration, 
and  to  serve  as  a  protection  from  the  penetrating  rains.* 
Now,  what  we  wish  the  reader  particularly  to  remark 
is,  that  effects  similar  to  those  which  are  produced  on  the 
clothing  of  animals  by  a  change  of  climate,  are,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  produced  also  by  the  different  seasons  of  the 
year.  There  is  a  beneficent  adaptation,  in  this  respect, 
to  the  alternations  of  heat  and  cold,  in  the  same  country. 
Examples  of  this  wise  provision,  among  our  domestic 
animals,  are  familiar  to  every  farmer.  The  horse,  the 

*  See  Kirby's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.  p.  64.   See  also  Scripture 
Geology,  p.  349. 


264  HYBERNATION. 

cow,  and  the  sheep,  when  exposed  to  the  open  air,  all 
acquire  a  rough  coat  in  winter,  which  they  throw  off  as 
the  warm  weather  advances,  being  then  supplied  with  a 
thinner  and  sleeker  covering  ;  and,  what  is  remarkable, 
the  shagginess,  and  consequent  heat,  of  their  clothing  is 
proportioned,  in  each  species,  to  the  extent  of  their  ex- 
posure, and  the  intensity  of  the  cold.  So  much  is  this 
the  case,  that  it  has  been  alleged,  probably,  however, 
with  some  degree  of  exaggeration,  that,  "if  wre  were  to 
look  at  the  horses,  for  example,  of  the  farmers  on  a 
market-day  in  winter,  we  might  determine  the  relative 
temperature  of  their  respective  farms,  from  the  relative 
quantity  of  clothing  provided  by  Nature  for  the  animals 
which  live  on  them."*  The  dealers  in  fur  are  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  change  we  are  now  considering.  In 
summer,  the  fur  of  those  animals  which  are  valued  for 
the  possession  of  this  article  of  commerce,  is  too  thin 
and  short  to  be  an  object  of  pursuit ;  but,  as  soon  as  the 
frost  and  snow  begin  to  show  themselves,  a  rapid  altera- 
tion takes  place,  and  the  fur  is  then  said  to  have  sudden- 
ly ripened.  This  is  remarkably  the  case  in  the  hare  and 
rabbit. 

Another  beneficent  provision  of  the  Creator,  for  alle- 
viating the  effects  of  cold  in  winter,  is  to  be  discovered 
in  the  change  of  color,  which  takes  place  in  the  clothing 
of  some  species,  both  of  quadrupeds  and  birds.  It  is 
remarkable,  that  the  tendency  of  this  change  is  from  dark 
to  pure  white.  Thus,  the  ermine,  which  is  in  the  sum- 
mer months  of  a  pale  brown  color,  inclining  to  red,  is 
highly  prized  in  winter  for  the  snowlike  whiteness  of  its 
fur  ;  and  the  Alpine  hare  of  the  Grampian  range  under- 
goes a  similar  change,  throwing  off  its  summer  dress  of 
tawny  gray,  and  appearing  in  a  coat  of  the  color  of 
milk.  Among  the  feathered  tribes,  we  find  the  ptarmi- 
gan, which  takes  up  its  habitation  on  the  summits  of  our 
most  lofty  Highland  mountains,  and  the  guillemot,  which 
frequents  our  coasts,  endowed  with  an  analogous  proper- 
ty. In  the  former,  the  change  is  complete  ;  in  the  case 

*  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia — Article  Hybernation. 


QUADRUPEDS THEIR  CLOTHING.  265 

of  the  latter,  its  summer  covering  of  black,  is,  in  this  cli- 
mate, converted  into  a  plumage  clouded  with  ash-color- 
ed spots,  on  a  white  ground  ;  but,  what  distinctly  marks 
the  intention  of  the  Creator,  is,  that  this  latter  bird,  when 
exposed,  as  in  Greenland,  to  a  more  intense  cold,  throws 
off  its  spotted  mantle,  and  appears  in  feathers  of  a  beau- 
tiful and  uniform  white. 

The  object  of  this  remarkable  change  in  the  appear- 
ance of  these  animals,  is  not  merely,  as  some  writers  have 
supposed,  to  protect  them  from  the  prying  eyes  of  their 
enemies,  by  assimilating  their  color  to  that  of  the  snow, 
though  this  intention  is  not  to  be  overlooked  ;  but  chiefly, 
as  I  believe,  to  provide  more  effectually  for  their  protec- 
tion from  the  alteration  in  the  temperature  of  the  seasons. 
It  might,  perhaps,  on  a  superficial  view,  appear,  that 
white,  which  consists  in  the  reflection  of  all  the  rays  of 
light,  was  less  favorable  than  any  other  color  to  the  heat 
of  the  body,  and  that,  were  the  intention  to  protect  the 
animals  from  cold,  the  process  would  just  be  reversed. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  a  dark  surface  imbibes  the  heat  to 
which  it  is  exposed,  in  greater  quantities  than  that  which 
is  of  a  light  hue,  and  if  this  were  all  that  was  required, 
the  objection  might  be  held  to  be  well  founded.  But  it 
must  be  remembered,  that  the  temperature  of  a  living  body 
depends  chiefly  on  the  power  of  retaining  the  animal 
heat  ;  and  it  is  on  this  principle  that  we  are  to  look  for 
the  ultimate  design  in  the  change  of  color  to  which  we 
have  alluded.  It  would  appear,  from  chemical  experi- 
ment, that  the  radiating  power  of  bodies  is  inversely  as 
their  reflecting  power  ;  and,  upon  this  principle,  the  white 
color  of  animals,  possessing  less  radiating  power  than  any 
other,  must  be  best  calculated  to  retain  the  heat  genera- 
ted in  their  bodies  by  the  vital  principle.  Thus,  while 
there  is  less  warmth  absorbed  from  the  external  atmos- 
phere than  if  their  darker  color  had  remained,  this  disad- 
vantage is  far  more  than  compensated  by  the  power  which 
their  white  clothing  confers,  of  resisting  the  effects  of 
the  external  cold  in  reducing  the  temperature.  This  is 
one  of  the  cases  which  we  so  commonly  meet  with  in  in- 
vestigations of  a  similar  kind,  where  an  imperfect  knowl- 
i.  23  vn. 


266  HYBERNATION. 

edge  of  the  laws  of  Nature  affords  room  for  plausible  ob- 
jections against  the  arrangements  of  Providence,  which 
a  more  profound  acquaintance  with  these  laws  entire- 
ly overturns,  and  even  converts  into  an  argument  on 
the  opposite  side.  Had  we  only  known,  that  a  white 
color  rejects  the  influence  of  external  heat  more  obsti- 
nately than  all  the  other  colors,  we  might  well  be  puz- 
zled to  account  for  the  fact,  that  during  the  winter  months 
a  change  should  take  place,  which  was  to  render  the  bod- 
ies of  the  animals  subject  to  it,  less  susceptible  of  at- 
mospherical warmth,  in  proportion  as  they  seemed  most 
to  require  this  blessing  ;  but,  when  the  more  recent  dis- 
coveries, which  prove  that  the  principle  of  radiation  fol- 
lows an  opposite  law,  set  the  matter  in  its  true  light,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  feel  that  peculiar  satisfaction  which 
arises  from  perceiving  the  consistency  of  benevolent  de- 
sign ;  and  the  lesson  which  we  are  thus  taught  goes  even 
further,  leading  us,  as  it  does,  confidently  to  conclude, 
that  wherever  facts  apparently  contradictory  of  Divine 
wisdom  or  goodness  are  to  be  found,  the  difficulty  lies, 
not  in  the  nature  of  the  thing,  but  in  the  darkness  of  hu- 
man ignorance. 


TENTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

HYBERNATION. STORING    INSTINCTS. 

As  birds  have  the  power,  and  are  endowed,  when  neces- 
sary, with  the  instinct  of  migration,  they  scarcely  stand 
in  need  of  any  other  means  of  avoiding  the  inconveniences 
of  winter ;  and,  accordingly,  we  find,  that  except  the 
change  already  mentioned,  of  a  summer  for  a  winter 
dress,  which  takes  place  in  some  species,  and  the  autum- 
nal repairing  of  their  feathers,  there  is  no  other  provision 
of  great  importance  and  extent  made  for  their  hyberna- 
tion.  But  with  quadrupeds,  reptiles,  and  insects,  the 


STORING  INSTINCTS.  267 

case  is  different.  As  they  were  destined  to  be  confined 
to  a  limited  locality,  it  was  necessary  to  make  sufficient 
arrangements  for  their  accommodation  within  their  native 
haunts.  The  warm  clothing,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
quadrupeds  acquire,  is  calculated  to  preserve  them  from 
the  effects  of  cold  ;  but  something  more  is  necessary. 
Not  only  is  the  breath  of  winter  chilling,  but  its  hand  is 
niggardly  of  food ;  and  there  is  danger  of  starvation,  not 
less  from  the  cravings  of  hunger  than  from  the  rigor  of 
the  weather.  To  this  want,  the  beneficent  Creator  has 
not  been  inattentive;  and  the  means  He  employs  to  rem- 
edy the  evil  are  not  less  remarkable  than  they  are  effica- 
cious. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  a  deficiency  in  the  sup- 
ply of  the  necessaries  of  life  may  be  compensated  for, 
namely,  either  by  the  accumulation  of  a  store  of  provis- 
ions during  the  period  of  plenty,  or  by  placing  the  body 
in  such  a  state  as  to  supersede  the  use  of  such  accumula- 
tion, by  rendering  it  insensible  to  the  demands  of  hunger, 
and  yet  preserving  its  vital  existence.  The  Creator  em- 
ploys both  of  these  means.  This  paper  shall  be  devoted 
to  the  consideration  of  the  former. 

The  class  of  quadrupeds,  among  which  various  spe- 
cies are  to  be  found,  that  lay  up  a  winter  store,  is  exclu- 
sively what  is  known  to  naturalists  by  the  appellation  of 
glires,  or  gnawing  animals.  Of  this  class  are  the  mouse, 
the  squirrel,  and  the  beaver.  Of  the  first  species,  the 
field-mouse  is  the  most  remarkable  for  this  propensity. 
This  little  animal  is  exceedingly  active,  about  the  end  of 
autumn, in  preserving  fallen  acorns,  by  burying  them  un- 
der ground  ;  being  thus  made  subservient  to  the  double 
purpose  of  hoarding  a  store  for  future  use,  and  of  plant- 
ing such  part  of  the  seed  as  it  either  forgets  or  does  not 
require,  in  such  a  manner  that  it  may  germinate  and 
spring  up  into  a  future  tree,*  destined  to  provide  the 

*  "  In  the  time  of  acorns  falling,"  says  Derharn,  **  I  have,  by  means 
of  the  hogs,  discovered  that  the  mice  had,  all  over  the  neighboring 
fields,  treasured  up  single  acorns  in  little  holes  they  had  scratched,  and 
in  which  they  had  carefully  covered  up  the  acorn.  These  the  hogs 
would,  day  after  day,  hunt  out  by  the  smell." — Derham's  Physico- 
Theology. 


268  HYEERNATION, 

means  of  subsistence  to  distant  generations  of  the  species. 
Such  is  the  wonderful  economy  of  Providence  ;  and  this, 
let  it  be  remarked,  in  passing,  is  only  one  instance  of  a 
kind  of  contrivance  extensively  employed,  which  we 
shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  notice. 

We  have  mentioned  the  common  squirrel  as  another 
example  of  the  storing  tribe.  This  agile  and  interesting 
creature  takes  up  its  residence  in  our  woods  and  forests, 
and,  during  the  last  month  of  autumn,  is  exceedingly  in- 
dustrious in  collecting  for  itself  a  hoard  of  nuts,  acorns, 
and  other  kinds  of  food,  which  it  carefully  deposits  in  a 
storehouse,  scooped  out  with  some  labor,  in  a  well-chos- 
en place  of  concealment,  among  the  large  and  embower- 
ing branches  of  a  shaggy  old  tree.  Here  it  takes  up  its 
winter  abode,  prudently  abstaining  from  the  violation  of 
its  little  magazine,  as  long  as  it  can  find  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence in  its  neighborhood. 

But  of  all  the  quadrupeds  which  provide  for  their  preser- 
vation during  winter,  by  laying  up  a  stock  of  food,  there  are 
none  so  wonderful  as  the  beavers.  A  branch  of  this  am- 
phibious family  was  at  one  time  to  be  found  in  Britain ;  and 
beavers  are  still  natives  of  some  northern  countries  in  Eu- 
rope, though  their  chief  residence  is  in  the  wilds  of  Amer- 
ica. They  have  long  attracted  the  admiration  of  mankind 
by  their  extraordinary  habits.  Some  of  our  most  celebra- 
ted naturalists,  indeed,  fired  by  the  exaggerated  accounts 
of  travellers,  have  launched  out  into  encomiums  on  their 
wonderful  faculties,  which  a  more  accurate  knowledge 
of  their  operations  has  of  late  considerably  modified. 
After  every  allowance,  however,  for  the  natural  propen- 
sity of  men  to  add  astonishment  to  the  wonderful,  we 
find  enough  in  the  most  sober  and  authentic  accounts 
given  of  this  quadruped,  to  excite  our  surprise. 

The  form  of  the  beaver  does  not  appear  to  be  pecu- 
liarly well  fitted  for  performing  works  of  skill  and  labor. 
It  is  described  as  not  exceeding  three  feet  in  length  ;  its 
paws  are  said  to  be  about  the  size  of  a  crown  piece  ; 
and  its  tail,  though,  by  its  breadth  and  flatness,  an- 
swering some  important  purposes,  seems  to  be  limited 
in  power  as  an  instrument  of  labor,  by  having  naturally 


STORING  INSTINCTS.  269 

such  an  inclination  downward,  that  it  can  with  difficulty 
be  brought  on  a  line  with  its  back.  Yet  this  apparently 
weak  and  ill-furnished  creature,  is  represented  as  supply- 
ing, by  its  ingenuity,  the  seeming  defects  in  its  bodily 
form,  and  constructing  works  for  the  comfort  and  con- 
venience of  its  winter  residence,  which,  in  reference  to 
its  more  contracted  wants,  rival  the  skill  and  science  of 
a  human  architect !  The  following  notice  of  the  manner 
in  which  these  animals  provide  against  the  inclemency  of 
the  winter  season,  is  abridged  from  a  judicious  article  in 
the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia. 

"  Towards  autumn,  they  quit  their  roving  way  of  life, 
form  themselves  into  communities,  and,  instructed  by 
that  admirable  instinct  of  which  we  have  so  many  ex- 
amples in  the  history  of  the  animal  creation,  begin  to 
provide  for  the  wants  of  a  season,  whose  duration  and 
inclemency  would  effectually  preclude  a  regular  supply 
of  their  accustomed  nourishment. 

u  The  winter-quarters  of  the  beavers  are  situated  on 
the  banks  of  a  river  or  creek,  or,  where  these  are  not  to 
be  found,  on  the  edge  of  a  lake  or  pond.  In  selecting 
the  exact  spot  where  they  may  form  their  houses,  they 
appear  to  be  guided  by  two  considerations,  viz. — a  suffi- 
cient depth  of  water,  to  prevent  its  being  completely 
frozen  ;  and  the  existence  of  a  current,  by  means  of 
which,  they  can  readily  convey  wood  and  bark  to  their 
habitations.  To  prevent  the  water  from  being  drained 
off,  when  the  frost  has  stopped  the  current  towards  its 
source,  the  beavers  construct  a  dam  across  the  stream ; 
and,  in  this  work,  they  certainly  display  wonderful  sa- 
gacity, skill,  and  perseverance.  The  dam  is  constructed 
of  drift-wood,  branches  of  willows,  birch,  and  poplar, 
stones,  and  mud,  brought  by  the  beavers  in  their  mouths,  or 
between  their  paws,  and  not,  as  many  have  asserted,  on 
their  tails.  If  the  current  be  slow,  .the  dam  runs  straight 
across  ;  but  if  the  stream  be  rapid,  the  dam  is  formed 
with  a  regular  curve,  having  the  convexity  towards  the 
current,  so  as  effectually  to  resist  the  force  of  the  water 
and  ice,  that  rush  down  during  the  storms  of  winter,  or 
the  thaws  that  take  place  in  spring.  These  dams  are 

23* 

j^& 

tfJJ^  OF 


270  HYBERNATION. 

several  feet  in  thickness,  and  of  such  strength,  when  com- 
pletely formed,  that  a  man  can  walk  along  them  with  per- 
fect safety. 

Having  completed  their  dam,  they  proceed  to  con- 
struct their  cabins.  These  are  partly  excavations  in  the 
ground,  though  their  roofs  form  a  sort  of  vaulted  dome 
that  rises  a  little  above  the  surface.  The  houses  have 
seldom  more  than  one  apartment,  and  never  more  than 
one  fk>or.  which  is  raised  in  the  middle,  to  allow  of  the 
inhabitants  eating  and  sleeping  in  a  dry  situation.  The 
principal  entrance  and  outlet  to  these  houses,  is  next  the 
water,  on  the  very  edge  of  which  they  are  constructed  ; 
and  the  opening  always  slopes  towards  the  water,  till  it 
terminates  so  far  below  its  surface,  as  to  preserve  a  free 
communication  in  the  most  severe  frosts.  There  appears 
to  be  another,  though  smaller,  opening  next  the  land. 
The  houses  are  of  various  sizes,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  which  seldom  exceeds  ten  or 
twelve,  though  sometimes  double  that  number  has  been 
found  in  the  same  dwelling.  Many  of  these  houses  stand 
together  along  the  margin  of  the  water,  forming  a  village 
of  from  ten  to  thirty  tenements. 

u  During  the  latter  end  of  summer,  the  beavers  cut 
down  their  wood  and  collect  their  roots.  The  latter  are 
kept  in  the  water,  whence  they  fetch  them  as  occasion 
may  require.  In  eating,  they  sit  on  their  rump  like  a 
squirrel,  with  their  tail  doubled  in  between  their  hind 
legs,  and  holding  their  food  between  their  paws.  When 
disturbed,  they  utter  a  peculiar  cry,  and  plunge  into  the 
water,  flapping  the  ground  and  the  water  with  their 
tail." 

The  faculty  of  storing  is  also  to  be  found,  as  we  have 
previously  stated,  among  insects,  of  which  the  example 
of  the  honey-bee  is  the  most  striking.  The  habits  of 
this  wonderful  insect,  the  large  and  orderly  community 
in  which  it  lives,  yielding  undeviating  fealty  to  a  female 
sovereign ;  the  mathematical  precision  with  which  it 
builds  its  cell ;  its  unwearying  industry  ;  its  wise  fore- 
sight ;  its  colonizing  propensity, — have  already  been  de- 
scribed in  speaking  of  the  hybernating  instincts  of  the 


STORING  INSTINCTS.  271 

insect  creation.  In  studying  its  operations,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  beaver,  and  indeed  of  the  other  storing  ani- 
mals, we  seem  to  get  still  deeper  insight  into  the  nature 
of  that  mysterious  faculty,  which,  resembling  reason  in 
so  many  particulars,  yet  differs  from  it  in  this,  that  its 
impulses  are  uniform  and  unchangeable,  belonging  nearly 
in  equal  perfection  in  all  ages,  and  under  all  circumstan- 
ces, to  every  individual  of  the  species  ;  not  capable  of 
improvement  by  education,  but  regulated  by  propensities 
directed  by  a  wisdom  of  which  the  species  is  not  con- 
scious, to  the  attainment  of  a  future  object,  which  they 
have  not  forethought  to  contemplate.*  What  is  this  but 
the  impress  of  the  finger  of  God  ? 

*  Mr.  Broderip  gives  a  curious  and  interesting  account  of  the  habits 
of  a  tame  beaver,  brought  to  England,  in  1825,  which  seems  to  illus- 
trate the  distinctive  difference  subsisting  between  reason  and  instinct, 
even  where  they  appear  to  make  the  nearest  approach.  This  little 
creature  was  still  very  young  when  let  out  of  his  cage,  but  immediate- 
ly showed  his  building  instinct.  He  began  by  selecting  the  longest  ma- 
terials within  his  reach,  such  as  sticks,  sweeping-brushes,  &c.,  which 
he  piled  up  in  such  a  way  that  one  end  touched  the  wall,  and  the  other 
projected  into  the  room.  "  As  the^work  grew  high,  he  supported  him- 
self upon  his  tail,  which  propped  him  up  admirably  ;  and  he  would  of- 
ten, after  laying  on  one  of  his  building  materials,  sit  up  over  against  it, 
apparently  to  consider  his  work,  or,  as  the  country  people  say,  'judge 
it.'  This  pause  was  sometimes  followed  by  changing  the  position  of 
the  material  'judged,'  and  sometimes  it  was  left  in  its  place.  After  he 
had  piled  up  his  materials  in  one  part  of  the  room,  (for  he  generally 
chose  the  same  place,)  he  proceeded  to  wall  up  the  space  between  the 
feet  of  a  chest  of  drawers  which  stood  at  a  little  distance  from  it,  high 
enough  on  its  legs  to  make  the  bottom  a  roof  for  him,  using  for  this 
purpose,  dried  turf  and  sticks,  which  he  laid  very  even,  and  filling  up 
the  interstices  with  bits  of  coal,  hay,  cloth,  or  any  thing  he  could  pick 
up.  This  last  place  he  seemed  to  appropriate  for  his  dwelling  ;  the 
former  work  seemed  to  be  intended  for  a  dam.  When  he  had  walled 
up  the  space  between  the  feet  of  the  chest  of  drawers,  he  proceeded  to 
carry  in  sticks,  cloth,  hay,  cotton,  and  to  make  a  nest ;  and,  when  he 
had  done,  he  would  sit  up  under  the  drawers,  and  comb  himself  with 
the  nails  of  his  hind  feet." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that  there  was,  in  the  case  of  this 
tame  beaver,  a  propensity  evinced  to  construct,  where  the  object  of  the 
propensity  no  longer  existed.  The  Author  of  its  being,  had  bestowed 
on  it  this  instinct,  for  the  use  of  the  species  in  its  wild  state  ;  and,  be- 
ing destitute  of  the  reasoning  power  which  would  have  taught  it  the  need- 
lessnesa  of  the  trouble  it  was  taking,  it  still  continued  not  only  to  build 
its  house,  and  line  its  nest,  where  it  was  already  sheltered  and  comfort- 
able, but  to  construct  a  dam  where  there  was  no  water. 


272  HYBERNATION. 


TENTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

HYBERNATION. TORPIDITY    OF    ANIMALS. 

AMONG  the  contrivances  by  which  the  Author  of  Na- 
ture enables  the  lower  animals  to  sustain  the  privations 
of  winter,  that  by  which  they  are  endowed  with  the  fac- 
ulty of  becoming  insensible  to  external  objects,  and  of 
approaching  a  state  of  temporary  death,  is  very  worthy 
of  attention.  The  ordinary  phenomena  of  sleep  have 
long  been  a  subject  of  deep  curiosity  to  the  philosophical 
inquirer.  The  torpidity  of  animals  during  the  cold  sea- 
son, in  some  respects,  resembles  this  state  ;  but  there  is 
a  marked  difference  not  only  in  the  period  of  insensibili-- 
ty,  and  in  the  wise  intentions  of  Providence  which  it  ful- 
fils, but  also  in  the  nature  of  this  provision,  as  it  affects 
the  bodily  frame,  as  well  as  in  other  particulars. 

The  subject  of  torpidity  has  given  rise  to  several  in- 
genious experiments,  by  which  some  curious  facts  have 
been  elicited.  It  is  not  our  object  to  record  these,  but 
merely  to  give  a  succinct  view  of  their  results,  in  so  far 
as  they  throw  light  on  the  operations  of  that  Divine 
Being,  from  whose  wisdom  and  goodness  they  derive 
their  origin. 

The  classes  of  animals,  among  whom  this  kind  of  hy- 
bernating  principle  is  found,  are  very  various,  viz.  quad- 
rupeds, reptiles,  insects,  perhaps  fishes,  and,  according 
to  some,  even  birds.  Among  quadrupeds,  the  species 
which  are  known  to  become  torpid,  belong  exclusively 
to  the  digitated  order.  A  few  of  these  species  are  of  the 
class  primates,  such  as  the  bat ;  and  of  the  class  /erce, 
such  as  the  hedgehog ;  but  the  most  numerous  instances 
occur  among  the  gUres,  of  which  the  dormouse  and  the 
marmot  are  familiar  examples. 

Attempts  have  been  made,  but  without  much  success, 
to  ascertain  the  causes  on  which  torpidity  depends.  It 


TORPIDITY   OF  ANIMALS.  273 

is  not  extreme  cold,  as  many  have  maintained,  for  some 
animals  collect  in  deep  caves,  where  the  temperature  is 
never  low,  or  congregate  and  burrow  in  the  earth,  where 
the  heat  of  their  bodies  preserves  a  temperature  not  much 
inferior  to  that  of  the  average  state  of  the  external  at- 
mosphere ;  and  others  become  lethargic  even  in  warm 
climates.  It  is  not  the  position  which  the  body  assumes, 
when  about  to  become  torpid,  though  this  has  also  been 
alleged  ;  for  the  different  species  seem  to  assume  no 
other  position  than  that  to  which  they  are  accustomed  in 
ordinary  rest  ;  it  is  not,  so  far  as  has  been  ascertained, 
any  distinct,  and  uniform  state  of  the  anatomical  conforma- 
tion, for  anatomists  have,  in  vain,  attempted  to  establish  any 
peculiarity  in  the  bodily  structure  of  such  animals,  which 
can  account  for  the  phenomenon  ;  it  is  not,  in  fine,  an  im- 
mediate destitution  of  food,  for  a  remarkable  fact  connected 
with  this  state  is,  that  when  animals  become  torpid,  they 
are,  generally  speaking,  unusually  plump,  and  fat.  Some 
of  these  circumstances,  indeed,  commonly  occur  at  the 
period  when  these  animals  fall  into  the  dormant  state,  and 
seem,  in  a  certain  degree,  to  influence  the  result.  Thus, 
the  exact  time  of  the  change  may  be  hastened  or  retarded, 
by  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere,  or  the  plenty  or 
scarcity  of  food  ;  but  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  con- 
clude, that  these  circumstances,  considered  merely  as 
physical  causes,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  the  phenome- 
non ;  and  we  are  rather  inclined  to  believe,  that  the  ani- 
mals themselves  have  some  power  in  their  own  volition, 
of  either  inducing  or  resisting  the  lethargic  condition. 
Spallanzani  has  seen  bats  in  a  torpid  state,  even  during 
summer.  A  migratory  hamster  (cricetus  glis,)  was 
placed  by  Mangili  in  a  state  of  confinement,  in  spring, 
when  it  was  naturally  in  its  waking  period  ;  and,  as  soon 
as  it  found  that  it  could  not  escape,  it  refused  to  eat,  and, 
throwing  itself  on  its  back,  became  torpid,  in  which  state 
it  remained  till  the  17th  July.  The  land-testacea  cer- 
tainly have  the  power  of  becoming  torpid,  independent 
of  the  severity  of  the  weather.  If  specimens  of  the 
helix  hortensis,  [or  garden  snail,]  for  example,  be  placed, 
even  a  midsummer,  in  a  box,  without  food,  they  soon 


274  HYBERNATION. 

attach  themselves  to  the  side  of  the  place  of  their  con- 
finement, and  become  dormant ;  in  which  state  they  may 
be  kept  for  several  years. 

Torpidity,  in  short,  is  an  instinct,  and  exhibits  many 
of  the  interesting  but  mysterious  characteristics  of  this 
faculty.  When  the  season  of  storms  and  scarcity  is 
about  to  arrive,  the  animals  to  whom  this  habit  belongs, 
carefully  select  a  proper  place  of  retreat,  respectively 
corresponding  to  their  several  natures,  where  they  may 
spend,  in  a  happy  oblivion,  the  dreary  winter  months 
"  The  bat,"  to  borrow  the  words  of  the  article  'Hyber- 
nation,'  in  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  u  retires  to  the 
roof  of  gloomy  caves,  or  to  the  old  chimneys  of  unin- 
habited castles  ;  the  hedgehog  wraps  itself  up  in  those 
leaves  of  which  it  composes  its  nest,  and  remains  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hedge,  or  under  covert  of  the  furze  which 
screened  it  during  summer,  from  the  scorching  sun  or 
the  passing  storm  ;  the  marmot  and  the  hamster  retire 
to  their  subterranean  retreats,  and  when  they  feel  the 
first  approach  of  the  torpid  state,  shut  the  passages  to 
their  habitations  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  is  more  easy  to 
dig  up  the  earth  any  where  else,  than  in  the  parts  which 
they  have  thus  fortified."  "Many  of  those  animals, 
particularly  such  as  belong  to  the  great  natural  family  of 
gnawers,  make  provision  in  their  retreats  during  the  har- 
vest month.  The  marmot,  it  is  true,  lays  up  no  stock 
of  provisions ;  but  the  hamsters  fill  their  stores  with  all 
kinds  of  grain,  on  which  they  are  supposed  to  feed  until 
the  cold  becomes  sufficiently  intense  to  induce  torpidity. 
The  cricetus  glis,  or  migratory  hamster  of  Pallas,  also 
lays  up  a  stock  of  provisions.  The  same  remark  is 
equally  applicable  to  the  dormouse." 

Animals,  in  preparing  for  this  dormant  state,  are  con- 
siderably actuated  by  their  usual  habits  while  awake,  not 
only  in  the  choice  of  a  place  of  retreat,  but  also  with 
regard  to  their  social  or  solitary  habits.  Thus,  the  hedge- 
hog and  dormouse  spend  their  period  of  insensibility 
alone,  while  the  marmot,  the  hamster,  and  the  bat,  col- 
lect, for  this  purpose,  in  large  societies. 

Some  curious  particulars  have  been  noted  of  the  phys- 


TORPIDITY   OF  ANIMALS.  275 

ical  condition  of  animals  during  their  torpidity,  which 
it  seems  unnecessary  to  do  more  than  barely  to  enumer- 
ate. In  this  state,  they  suffer  a  great  diminution  of 
bodily  temperature  ;  they  breathe  slowly,  and  only  at  in- 
tervals proportioned  to  the  depth  of  their  slumber,  some- 
times with  long  periods  of  total  intermission ;  the  circu- 
lation of  their  blood  becomes  languid  to  such  an  extent, 
that  even  the  pulsation  of  the  heart  is  scarcely  felt ;  the 
animal  irritability  decreases,  so  that  limbs  may  be  lopped 
off,  and  even  the  vital  parts  laid  open,  almost  without 
exciting  any  symptoms  of  feeling  ;  the  action  of  the  di- 
gestive organs  is  suspended  ;  the  body  becomes  gradually 
emaciated,  and  its  weight  is  diminished,  but  without  im- 
pairing the  living  principle,  which,  on  the  contrary,  is 
found  to  be  in  a  remarkably  energetic  and  active  state  at 
the  period  of  resuscitation. 

Many  of  the  observations  which  we  have  made  as  to 
quadrupeds,  will  apply  also  to  reptiles.  These  cold- 
blooded animals  adopt  similar  precautions  in  selecting 
proper  places  of  retreat,  to  protect  them  from  their  ene- 
mies, and  to  preserve  them  from  sudden  alternations  of 
temperature.  Those,  which  inhabit  the  waters,  sink  into 
the  soft  mud  ;  while  such  as  live  on  land,  enter  the  holes 
and  crevices  of  rocks,  or  other  places,  where  there  is 
little  change  of  temperature.  Thus  disposed  of,  they 
obey  the  impulse,  and  become  torpid.  The  effect  of 
cold  in  inducing  and  prolonging  this  state,  is  much  more 
remarkable  than  in  warm-blooded  animals.  It  is  said 
that  frogs  and  snakes  may  be  kept  in  a  torpid  state,  in 
an  icehouse,  for  several  years,  without  any  diminution 
of  their  vital  energy.  It  is,  perhaps,  on  a  similar  prin- 
ciple, that  toads  have  been  found  alive,  after  having,  for 
centuries,  been  imbedded  in  the  heart  of  stones. 

The  torpidity  of  the  mollusca  tribes,*  and  of  insects, 
is  much  more  general  than  that  of  the  higher  genera  of 
animals  ;  but  as  the  state  of  these  more  minute  animals 
during  winter  has  occupied  our  attention  in  other  papers, 
I  shall  at  present  pass  the  subject  with  this  single  obser- 

*  [Soft  animals  ;  such  as  cuttle-fish,  shellfish,  snails,  &c. — AM.  ED.] 


276  HYBERNATION. 

vation,  that  the  paternal  care  of  the  Creator  is  not  less 
conspicuous  in  the  case  of  the  microscopic  insect,  than 
that  of  the  most  lordly  quadruped  ;  and  that  the  lower 
we  descend  in  the  scale  of  existence,  the  more  striking 
appear  to  be  the  proofs  of  a  universal  Providence,  which 
has  caused  the  world  to  teem  with  life  and  enjoyment. 

If  we  cannot,  from  physical  causes,  account  for  the 
torpidity  of  animals,  neither  shall  we  be  able  to  discover, 
in  such  causes,  any  adequate  reason  for  their  revival  at 
the  fit  period.  This  revival  does  not  take  place  in  all 
classes  at  the  same  time  ;  but,  speaking  generally,  none 
of  them  burst  their  lethargic  chains  till  the  revolving 
season  has  brought  round  a  genial  warmth,  along  with 
supplies  of  proper  nourishment.  Had  we  only  to  ac- 
count for  the  reviviscence  of  those  animals  which  are 
exposed  to  the  changes  of  temperature,  we  might,  per- 
haps, rest  satisfied  with  the  idea,  that  the  return  of  warmth 
was  the  immediate  stimulus  by  which  the  change  was 
effected  ;  but  what  shall  we  say  of  the  numerous  instances 
in  which  these  winter  sleepers  bury  themselves  so  deep, 
or  lie  congregated  so  close,  and  secured  so  carefully,  as 
to  remain  beyond  the  reach  of  atmospheric  changes  ? 
By  what  calendar  do  the  bats,  for  example,  in  the  inter- 
minable windings  and  dark  recesses  of  the  Mammoth 
cave  of  Kentucky,  count  the  return  of  the  months  of 
spring  ?  What  voice  whispers  to  the  little  marmot,  as  it 
lies  in  its  deep  burrow,  fostered  by  the  animal  heat  of  its 
fellows,  with  every  avenue  to  the  open  air  effectually 
sealed  up,  that  the  stiffening  frost  no  longer  enchains  the 
soil,  and  that  the  season  of  herbs  and  of  roots  has  returned  ? 
Only  one  answer  can  be  returned ;  and  we  are  forced 
anew  to  acknowledge  the  presence  of  a  mysterious  instinct, 
or  rather  of  that  bountiful  Being  who,  while  He  every 
where  works,  every  where  conceals  Himself  from  mor- 
tal eyes  ;  or  is  seen  only  by  reflection  from  his  visible 
creation. 

We  mean  not  to  assert,  either  here  or  elsewhere,  that, 
in  the  processes  of  instinct,  the  Creator  does  not  act,  as 
He  acts  in  the  better  known  operations  of  nature,  by 
means  of  second  causes,  which  might  be  made  manifest 


MAN  IN  WINTER.  277 

to  rational  creatures,  and  the  force  and  adequacy  of  which 
might  be  understood  by  them  ;  but  we  do  mean  to  say, 
that  these  causes  have  not  yet  been  discovered  ;  and 
that,  whether  discovered  or  not,  there  is,  in  the  appear- 
ances we  have  been  considering,  a  distinct  and  undeniable 
indication  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence  moulding  the  facul- 
ties of  living  creatures,  and  wonderfully  adapting  their 
powers  to  the  circumstances  of  the  external  creation,  so 
as  to  promote  the  preservation  of  their  existence,  and  to 
contribute  to  their  enjoyment. 


TENTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

I.  MAN  IN  WINTER. PRIVATION  STIMULATES  HIS  FACULTIES. 

THERE  is  something  very  -peculiar,  but  remarkably 
adapted  to  the  general  constitution  of  nature,  in  the  cir- 
cumstances and  condition  of  man,  as  compared  with 
other  animals,  pointing  directly  to  certain  great  ends  and 
principles  of  his  existence,  and  confirming,  in  a  very 
striking  manner,  the  character  which  we  have  already 
stated  to  be  impressed  by  the  great  Creator  on  His  works. 
Man  is,  of  all  animals,  the  least  provided  with  natural 
means  of  defence  from  his  numerous  enemies,  as  far  as 
relates  to  his  bodily  powers,  and  the  most  scantily  sup- 
plied with  protection  from  the  vicissitudes  of  climate. 
He  enters  life  unclothed,  and  utterly  helpless  ;  he  grows 
up  slowly  to  manhood,  amidst  a  thousand  difficulties  and 
dangers.  During  the  first  period  of  his  existence,  he 
must  necessarily  depend  on  the  good  offices  of  others 
for  the  means  of  preserving  life ;  and  in  the  last  stage  he 
descends  again  into  all  the  feebleness,  inactivity,  and 
dependence,  of  a  second  childhood.  It  is  not  so  with 
other  animals.  They  come  into  the  world  clothed,  armed, 
and  furnished  with  instruments  and  means  of  subsistence, 
or,  at  least,  after  a  few  days  or  weeks  of  dependence  on 
i.  24  vn. 


273  MAN  IN  WINTER. 

their  parents,  they  are  thrown  upon  their  own  resources, 
with  ample  means  of  support  and  enjoyment.  This  con- 
trast between  the  early  condition  of  man  and  the  lower 
animals,  is  described  by  a  Roman  poet,  in  lines  elegant, 
but  querulous,  which  may  be  thus  translated  : — 

The  infant,  first  emerging  into  day, 

Lies,  like  the  shipwreck'd  mariner,  when  toss'd 

From  the  fierce  billows, — naked,  helpless,  sad  ; 

And  weeps  and  moans,  as  well  beseems  a  wretch 

Cast  on  a  world  with  grief  and  pain  oppressed. 

Not  so  the  peaceful  flocks  and  herds  are  rear'd, 

Not  so  the  savage  beasts  ; — for  nought  want  they 

Of  cradled  rest,  or  bland  and  prattling  talk 

Of  watchful  nurse,  or  clothing  warm  or  cool, 

As  varying  seasons  rule  the  inconstant  year. 

No  arms  they  seek,  nor  lofty  walls,  to  guard 

Their  hoarded  treasures  ;  for,  with  bounteous  hand, 

Earth  spreads  her  varied  stores,  and  Nature  yields 

Her  wond'rous  powers,  to  bless  their  countless  tribes.* 

The  intention  of  the  Creator  in  thus  throwing  the  in- 
fant on  the  immediate  protection  and  tender  assiduities 
of  his  parents,  is  not  unkind,  but  the  very  reverse.  Con- 
stituted as  man  is,  such  a  state  of  dependence  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  guardianship  on  the  other,  is  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  developement  of  the  moral  and  even  of 
the  intellectual  faculties,  and  impresses  a  character  of 
affection  and  of  mutual  sympathy  on  the  human  heart, 
which  extends  from  the  family  circle  to  the  whole  rela- 
tions of  life  ;  and  while  it  binds  society  together  by  the 
strongest  ties,  sheds  over  it  the  most  endearing  charm. 

But  it  is  not  in  this  view  that  we  are  led  at  present  to 

*  "  Turn  porro  puer,  ut  saevis  projectus  ab  undis 
Navita,  nudus  humi  jacet,  infans,  indigus  omni 
Vitali  auxilio,  cum  prim  urn  in  luminis  oras 
Nixibus,  ex  alvo  matris  natura  profudit ; 
Vagituque  locum  lugubri  complet,  ut  aequum  est, 
Cui  tantum  in  vita  restet  transire  malorum. 
At  varise  crescunt  Pecudes,  Armenta,  Feraeque  ; 
Nee  crepitacula  eis  opu'  sunt,  nee  cuiquam  adhibenda  est 
Almae  nutricis  blanda  atque  infracta  loquela  : 
Nee  varias  quserunt  vesteis,  pro  tempore  coeli. 
Denique  non  armis  opus  est,  non  moenibus  altis, 
Q,ueis  sua  tutentur,  quando  omnibus  omnia  large 
Tellus  ipsa  parit,  naturaque  dsedala  rerum." 


PRIVATION  STIMULATES   HIS   FACULTIES.        279 

consider  the  subject.  We  have  to  inquire  how  this 
naked  and  houseless  creature  finds  shelter  and  protection 
from  the  rigors  of  winter  ;  and  this  throws  us  into  a  wide 
but  most  interesting  field  of  inquiry,  leading,  as  it  does, 
to  a  consideration  of  the  peculiar  provisions  and  adapta- 
tions by  which  the  energies  of  the  human  mind  are  called 
forth  and  disciplined, — a  subject  to  which  we  formerly 
adverted,  but  which  seems  worthy  of  reconsideration,  as 
applicable  to  this  particular  case. 

The  sentence  which  has  passed  on  fallen  man  is,  "  In 
the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return 
unto  the  ground  ;"  and,  by  the  peculiar  ordinance  of  a 
wonder-working  Providence,  that  which  is  his  curse  is 
converted  into  the  means  of  giving  vigor  and  enlargement 
to  his  mental  powers.  It  is  by  the  pressure  of  necessity, 
and  the  urgency  of  want,  that  our  natural  aversion  to 
labor  and  love  of  inaction  are  overcome.  To  prove 
this,  we  do  not  need  to  revert  to  the  theories  of  philoso- 
phers, or  to  follow  man  through  his  fancied  stages  of  ad- 
vancement, from  his  lowest  grade, — a  savage  roamer  of 
the  forest,  feeding  on  nuts  and  roots, — till  we  find  him, 
first  a  hunter  and  fisher,  then  a  shepherd,  next  a  tiller  of 
the  soil,  and,  last  of  all,  a  man  of  commerce,  and  an 
adept  in  the  arts  and  sciences. 

In  the  supposed  steps  of  this  progress,  history  does 
not  bear  us  out ;  but  we  do  know,  from  all  history,  as 
well  as  from  daily  experience,  that  the  wants  of  man 
stimulate  his  ingenuity  ;  that  these  wants  increase  with 
the  power  of  gratifying  them,  while  the  ingenuity  which 
supplies  them  keeps  pace  with  his  enlarging  desires,  and 
that  thus  there  is  a  constant  action  and  reaction,  which, 
by  a  most  wonderful  and  interesting  process,  urges  man 
on  from  stage  to  stage  of  improvement,  till  he  becomes, 
what  we  find  him  to  be  in  the  most  advanced  state  of 
society, — a  being  as  different,  in  his  mental  attainments, 
from  the  wandering  savage,  as  the  lordly  elephant,  in  his 
physical  powers,  is  from  the  blind  worm  of  the  earth. 
The  human  mind  is  mighty  and  various  in  its  faculties  ; 
but  before  these  become  available  to  any  great  extent, 
they  must  be  excited  by  external  objects,  trained  and 


280  MAN  IN  WINTER. 

moulded  by  discipline,  and  enlightened  by  the  accumu- 
lated wisdom  of  ages  ;  and  to  perform  these  important 
functions,  the  circumstances  and  condition  of  external 
nature  are  admirably  suited. 

This  observation  applies  universally,  and  might  be  il- 
lustrated in  a  thousand  different  ways  ;  but  take  the  case 
immediately  before  us, — the  necessity  of  protection  from 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons.  In  what  state  do  we  find 
civilized  man  ?  Think  of  the  comforts  and  conveniences 
which  he  has  accumulated  around  him,  for  the  purpose 
in  view.  This  naturally  naked  and  helpless  creature, 
makes  the  whole  creation,  both  animate  and  inanimate, 
contribute  to  his  defence  from  the  wintry  blast,  and  from 
the  summer's  heat.  The  hemp,  the  flax,  the  cotton 
plant,  and  the  inner  bark  of  various  trees,  yield  their 
vegetable  stores ;  the  sheep  gives  its  fleece  ;  the  silk- 
worm its  web  ;  the  cow  her  hide  ;  the  goose  and  the 
eider-duck  their  down  ;  the  beaver,  the  ermine,  and  the 
bear,  their  fur,  that  his  want  of  natural  clothing  may  be 
supplied  ;  and  that,  by  adapting  his  covering  to  the  cli- 
mate, he  may  either  brave  the  rigors  of  a  polar  sky,  or 
support,  without  material  inconvenience,  the  fierce  rays 
of  a  tropical  sun. 

Again,  attend  to  his  place  of  residence.  What  con- 
veniences !  what  comforts  !  what  luxuries  !  Within 
his  own  limited  locality,  Providence  has  given  him  every 
thing  necessary  for  the  supply  of  his  wants.  Every 
where  there  is  to  be  found  stone,  and  lime,  and  wood, 
and  iron,  or  some  useful  substitutes.  Of  these,  the  cot- 
tage, the  hall,  and  the  palace,  are  all  equally  constructed. 
There  is,  elaborated  by  his  industry  from  materials  readily 
within  his  reach,  glass,  to  admit  the  light  and  exclude  the 
chilly  blast ;  there  are  coals,  or  billets,  or  peat,  for  fire 
to  warm  ;  there  are  downy  beds  for  necessary  rest ;  and, 
if  ambition  or  voluptuousness  looks  further,  the  East 
brings  its  perfumes  and  its  gems  ;  the  West  and  the 
South  their  precious  metals  and  their  ornamental  furni- 
ture ;  the  North  its  oil,  to  afford  artificial  day  ;  all  cli- 
mates and  all  countries  contribute,  of  their  abundance 
and  their  varieties,  to  supply  the  cravings  of  a  constantly 


PROVISIONS  FOR  HIS   COMFORT.  281 

increasing  and  never-satisfied  appetite  for  accumulation 
and  enjoyment. 

And  so  it  is,  that  the  very  privations  and  disadvantages, 
with  which  man  comes  into  the  world,  become  the  means 
by  which  the  desire  of  acquiring  and  improving  is  stimu- 
lated, till  he  not  only  equals  the  lower  animals  in  those 
gifts,  naturally  withheld  from  him,  with  which  Provi- 
dence had  endowed  them,  but  rises  far  beyond  them ; 
and,  by  means  of  his  mental  qualities,  deservedly  earns 
for  himself  the  title,  which  his  bodily  faculties  could 
never  have  merited,  of  being  emphatically  lord  of  this 
nether  sphere. 


TENTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

II.  MAN  IN  WINTER. PROVISIONS  FOR  HIS  COMFORT. 

IT  is  most  interesting  to  look  into  the  various  features 
of  that  providential  administration,  by  which,  under  a 
very  peculiar  and  surprising  discipline,  the  progress  of 
society  is  advanced,  and  man  rises  in  the  scale  of  moral 
and  intelligent  beings.  In  the  wants  of  his  natural  state, 
as  regards  the  season  of  winter,  we  yesterday  saw  how  a 
stimulus  is  employed,  which,  combined,  doubtless,  with 
other  incentives,  induces  him  to  seek,  first,  necessaries, 
then  conveniences,  then  comforts  and  luxuries,  till  he 
draws  around  him  the  resources  of  the  world,  and,  by 
the  ever-expanding  views  of  an  aspiring  mind,  calls  pro- 
gressively into  action  those  mental  powers,  both  in  him- 
self and  his  fellows,  which  might  otherwise  have  lain 
dormant. 

If,  from  this  view  of  the  exercise  given  to  genius  and 
talent,  in  counteracting  the  privations  of  winter,  we  turn 
to  the  provisions  which  have  been  bountifully  made,  in 
external  nature,  for  affording  scope  to  these  faculties,  we 
shall  find  additional  cause  of  devout  admiration. 
24* 


282  MAN  IN  WINTER. 

The  first  thing  worthy  of  remark,  in  this  department 
of  the  subject,  is,  that,  speaking  generally,  the  materials 
by  which  exposure  to  the  inclemency  of  the  season  may 
be  obviated,  lie  apparent  and  abundant  in  those  climates 
where  such  inconveniences  are  liable  to  be  felt.  In  pro- 
portion as  we  penetrate  into  the  colder  regions,  animals 
are  found  in  greater  plenty,  whose  coats  of  soft  and 
downy  fur,  furnished  beneficently  by  their  Creator  for 
their  own  protection,  when  transferred  to  the  human 
body,  defy  the  wintry  storms.  If  we  approach  still 
nearer  the  polar  circle,  we  discover  a  provision  which 
renders  even  these  regions  of  gloom  and  intense  cold, 
habitable  during  the  severest  part  of  the  year.  The 
enormous  tenants  of  the  icy  seas,  which  surround  these 
inhospitable  coasts,  not  only  furnish  the  inhabitants  with 
food  ;  but,  being  enveloped  in  immense  loads  of  fat,  yield 
to  them  all  that  is  needful,  both  for  light  and  heat,  in 
their  dark  and  chilly  winter  months.  Nay,  the  very  snow, 
which  clothes  Nature  as  in  a  winding-sheet,  and  seems 
to  augur  nothing  but  desolation  and  death,  is  converted, 
by  the  ingenuity  of  man,  into  a  comfortable  habitation, 
and  thus  becomes  a  preserver  of  life,  and  a  means  of  en- 
joyment. 

Then,  again,  if  we  speak  of  fuel,  how  bountiful  is 
Providence  in  supplying  those  exhaustless  forests  of  pine 
in  the  northern  regions  of  Europe,  and  those  immense 
fields  of  coal  in  Britain,  and  other  similar  climates,  by 
which  frost  is  charmed  away  from  the  dwellings  of  the 
inhabitants  !  Can  we  believe  it  to  be  without  a  beneficent 
design,  that  such  amazing  magazines  of  combustible  mat- 
ter should  be  deposited  within  our  temperate  zones  ? 
And  does  it  not  add  to  the  wonder  of  this  provision,  that 
coal  is  known  to  be  a  vegetable  production  of  a  climate 
altogether  different  from  that  in  which  it  is  found, — a 
climate  probably  not  inferior  in  warmth,  and  in  the  power 
of  nourishing  vegetation,  to  the  most  favored  of  our 
tropical  regions  ?*  When,  and  under  what  circumstances, 

*  The  high  temperature  of  the  localities  in  which  the  vegetation  was 
produced  that  has  given  rise  to  our  coal  fields,  is  inferred  from  the 
gigantic  size  of  the  ferns,  mosses,  and  other  plants,  still  discovered  in 
the  formation. 


PROVISIONS   FOR  HIS   COMFORT.  283 

did  that  profusion  of  gigantic  trees  and  plants  cover  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  luxuriate  in  the  sunshine  and  the 
shower  of  a  blessed  climate,  which,  under  the  name  of 
Surturbrand,  has  erected  the  platform  on  which  northern 
Iceland  rears  its  burning  mountain,  and  spreads  its  rug- 
ged hills  and  plains  ;  and  in  Britain,  the  land  of  manu- 
factures, and  America,  that  new  country,  buoyant  with 
youthful  enterprise,  has  laid  up  those  amazing  stores  of 
fuel,  which  many  centuries  of  human  toil  and  industry, 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  diminish  ?  A  mystery  hangs  over 
the  subject,  which  the  geologist,  with  all  his  zeal  and 
acuteness,  shall  probably  in  vain  attempt  to  penetrate  ; 
but  it  is  enough  for  our  present  purpose  to  know  the  fact. 
By  whatever  natural  catastrophe  these  ancient  woods  and 
forests  were  submerged,  there  they  are,  collected  in  the 
most  convenient  localities,  at  once  for  furnishing  the 
means  of  comfort  during  the  rigors  of  an  ungenial  winter, 
and  for  affording  facilities  to  the  increase  of  human  power, 
in  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  arts  of  life.* 
Is  it  too  much  to  say,  that  here  is  the  hand  of  a  Paternal 
Providence  ? 

*  Dr.  Buckland,  after  stating  that  iron  is  frequently  associated  with 
coal  in  the  subordinate  beds  of  the  transition  series,  concludes  a  chapter 
on  this  subject,  with  the  following  interesting  observations.  "  The 
important  uses  of  coal  and  iron  in  administering  to  the  supply  of  our 
daily  wants,  give  to  every  individual  amongst  us,  in  almost  every  mo- 
ment of  our  lives,  a  personal  concern,  of  which  but  few  are  conscious, 
in  the  geological  events  of  these  very  distant  eras.  We  are  all  brought 
into  immediate  connexion  with  the  vegetation  which  clothed  the  ancient 
earth,  before  one  half  of  its  actual  surface  had  yet  been  formed.  The 
trees  of  the  primeval  forests  have  not,  like  modern  trees,  undergone 
decay,  yielding  back  their  elements  to  the  soil  and  atmosphere,  by  which 
they  have  been  nourished,  but,  treasured  up  in  subterranean  storehouses, 
have  been  transformed  into  enduring  beds  of  coal,  which,  in  these  later 
ages,  have  become  to  man  the  sources  of  heat,  and  light,  and  wealth. 
My  fire  now  burns  with  fuel,  and  my  lamp  is  shining  with  the  light  of 
gas,  derived  from  coal  that  has  been  buried  for  countless  ages  in  the 
deep  and  dark  recesses  of  the  earth.  We  prepare  our  food,  and  main- 
tain our  forges  and  furnaces  and  the  power  of  our  steam-engines,  with 
the  remains  of  plants  of  ancient  forms  and  extinct  species,  which  were 
swept  from  the  earth  ere  the  formation  of  the  transition  strata  was  com- 
pleted. Our  instruments  of  cutlery,  the  tools  of  our  mechanics,  and  the 
countless  machines  which  we  construct,  by  the  infinitely-varied  applica- 
tions of  iron,  are  derived  from  ore,  for  the  most  part  coeval  with,  or 


284  MAN  IN  WINTER. 

Fuel  implies  the  use  of  fire,  and  this  leads  us  to  look 
at  some  of  the  properties  of  that  wonderful  element, 
which,  on  the  hearth  and  in  the  lamp,  contributes  so 
materially  to  the  comforts  of  winter.  This  is  the  very 
same  element,  which,  by  its  subtile  and  all-pervading 
powers,  gives  light  and  warmth  to  the  world,  and  the 
effects  of  which,  the  poet  of  the  Seasons  so  beautifully 
describes,  in  speaking  of  the  adorable  power  and  good- 
ness of  the  Creator,  when  he  says,  that  His  mighty  hand 

"  Works  in  the  secret  deep  ;  shoots,  steaming,  thence 
The  fair  profusion  that  o'erspreads  the  spring  ; 
Flings  from  the  sun  direct  the  flaming  day  ; 
Feeds  every  creature  ;  hurls  the  tempest  forth  ; 
And,  as  on  earth  the  grateful  change  revolves, 
With  transport  touches  all  the  springs  of  life." 

In  the  treatise  on  Heat,  published  in  the  '  Library  of 
Useful  Knowledge,'  there  are  the  following  introductory 
observations,  which  describe,  in  a  popular  manner,  some 
of  the  most  obvious  effects  of  this  remarkable  agent. 
"In  all  our  excursions  over  the  surface  of  the  globe,  in- 
numerable objects  excite  our  admiration,  and  contribute 
to  our  delight.  But  whether  our  gratitude  is  awakened 
by  the  verdure  of  the  earth,  the  lustre  of  the  waters,  or 
the  freshness  of  the  air,  it  is  to  the  beneficial  agency  of 
heat  (under  Providence)  that  we  are  indebted  for  them 
all.  Without  the  presence  and  effects  of  heat,  the  earth 
would  be  an  impenetrable  rock,  incapable  of  supporting 
animal  or  vegetable  life  ;  the  waters  would  be  for  ever 
deprived  of  their  fluidity  and  motion,  and  the  air  of  its 
elasticity  and  its  utility  together. 

"  Heat  animates,  invigorates,  and  beautifies  all  Nature. 
Its  influence  is  absolutely  necessary,  to  enable  plants  to 
grow,  put  forth  their  flowers,  and  perfect  their  fruits. 
It  is  closely  connected  with  the  powers  of  life,  since  ani- 

more  ancient  than,  the  fuel,  by  the  aid  of  which  we  reduce  it  to  its  me- 
tallic state,  and  apply  it  to  innumerable  uses  in  the  economy  of  human 
life.  Thus  from  the  wreck  of  forests  which  waved  upon  the  surface 
of  the  primeval  lands,  and  from  ferruginous  mud  that  was  lodged  at  the 
bottom  of  the  primeval  waters,  we  derive  our  chief  supplies  of  coal  and 
iron,  those  two  fundamental  elements  of  art  and  industry  which  con- 
tribute, more  than  any  other  mineral  production  of  the  earth,  to  increase 
the  riches,  and  multiply  the  comforts,  and  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
mankind."— Auckland's  B.  T.,  vol.  i.  pp.  66,  67. 


PROVISIONS   FOR  HIS   COMFORT.  285 

mated  beings  lose  their  vitality  when  heat  is  withdrawn. 
Such  is  the  universal  influence  of  this  powerful  agent  in 
the  kingdoms  of  Nature ;  nor  is  this  influence  diminished 
in  the  provinces  of  art.  It  is  with  the  aid  of  heat  that 
rocks  are  rent,  and  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  earth 
obtained.  Matter  is  modified  ten  thousand  ways  by  its 
agency,  and  rendered  subservient  to  the  uses  of  man, 
furnishing  him  with  useful  and  appropriate  instruments, 
warm  and  ornamental  clothing,  wholesome  and  delicious 
food,  needful  and  effectual  shelter." 

Heat  is  the  principle  of  fire,  under  whatever  modifica- 
tion it  may  appear  ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  worthy  of 
admiration,  than  the  fact,  that  an  element  of  such  tremen- 
dous power,  whose  operations  are  on  so  vast  a  scale, 
and  whose  mastery  is  so  fearful,  should  yet  be  capable 
of  being  subjected  to  the  service  of  man,  in  the  most 
menial  offices,  and,  in  that  capacity,  should  become  so 
mild  and  tractable.  What  human  mind,  in  the  wildest 
flights  of  its  fancy,  could,  previous  to  experience,  have 
conceived  the  existence  of  an  agent,  which  appals  nature 
with  its  angry  roar,  and,  rending  the  clouds,  darts  in 
livid  bolts  from  heaven  to  earth,  or  uprears  mountains 
in  its  throes,  and,  opening  the  solid  crust  of  the  globe, 
overwhelms  whole  regions  with  torrents  of  melted  rock, 
poured  forth  like  water  ;  or,  more  amazing  still,  which 
displays  its  might  and  glory,  in  shedding  the  effulgence 
of  day  over  the  smiling  earth,  and  regulating  the  changes 
of  the  seasons,  and  calling  the  wonders  of  vegetation 
from  the  solid  land,  while  it  causes  the  liquid  seas  to 
flow, — which  performs  all  these  wonders,  and  a  thousand 
more,  and  yet  is  so  entirely  under  the  control  of  man, 
and  so  subservient  to  his  use,  that  it  remains  meekly 
glimmering  amidst  smouldering  ashes  in  the  grate,  ready, 
at  his  command,  to  cheer  and  enlighten  his  winter  even- 
ings, by  blazing  from  a  taper,  or  to  employ  its  obsequi- 
ous powers,  for  whatever  purpose  of  culinary  prepara- 
tion, or  of  genial  warmth,  his  necessities  or  enjoyments 
may  require.  What  amazing  power  and  wisdom  is  here, 
tempered,  not  less  wonderfully,  with  all  the  tender  con- 
descension of  Paternal  kindness  ! 


286  MAN  IN  WINTER. 


TENTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

III.     MAN    IN    WINTER. ADAPTATION    OF    HIS    CONSTITUTION 

TO  THE  SEASON. 

BESIDES  the  adaptation  of  external  nature  to  the  pro- 
tection of  man  from  the  severities  of  winter,  we  have 
another  proof  of  beneficent  intention  in  the  adaptation  of 
the  human  constitution  itself  to  the  endurance  of  these 
severities.  All  animals  are  more  or  less  endowed  with 
this  power  of  accommodation,  yet  none  so  much  as  those 
which  are  destined  to  be  the  companions  and  the  aids  of 
man  ;  and  man  himself,  assisted  by  the  contrivances 
which  his  intellectual  powers  suggest,  stands,  in  this  re- 
spect, preeminent  above  them  all.  It  was  consistent  with 
the  beneficent  intentions  of  the  Creator,  that  the  only  ra- 
tional race  of  beings  on  our  globe,  should  be  dispersed 
over  every  climate,  and  should  carry  intelligence  and 
mental  enjoyment,  and  a  heart  capable  of  feeling  and 
acknowledging  the  Almighty  Benefactor,  into  every  cor- 
ner of  the  earth.  We  accordingly  find,  that  the  human 
frame  can  exist,  not  only  under  the  vertical  sun  of  the 
tropics,  but  under  the  chilling  blasts  and  wide-spread 
snows  of  the  polar  regions. 

It  may  be  difficult  for  the  physiologist  to  discover  in 
what  this  power  of  accommodation  lies  ;  but,  that  it  does 
actually  exist,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  slightest  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  and  condition  of  the  human 
race  demonstrates.  Every  climate,  indeed,  and  almost 
every  country,  exhibits  some  peculiarity  in  the  consti- 
tution, and  even  in  the  external  appearance,  of  the  in- 
habitants, which  indicates  this  power.  The  wellknown 
varieties  in  the  color  of  the  skin,  with  its  different  shades 
of  white,  yellow,  red,  brown,  and  black,  is  an  example 
of  this.  The  color  of  the  eyes,  and  of  the  hair,  and  the 
shape  of  the  nose,  the  cheek-bones,  and  the  lips,  are 


ADAPTATION  TO  THE  SEASON.         287 

other  familiar  instances  of  a  distinction  of  races  in  con- 
nexion with  food  and  climate,  as  well  as  other  local  cir- 
cumstances. I  mention  these  as  mere  indications,  for  I 
do  not  know  how  far,  or  in  what  respects,  any  of  them 
contribute  to  the  accommodation  in  question.  But  the 
profuse  perspiration  of  the  Negro,  under  the  heat  of  the 
tropics,  and  the  stunted  growth,  and  thick-set  form  of  the 
Laplander,  and  native  of  Greenland,  where  food  is  scanty, 
and  the  cold  intense,  are  less  equivocal  marks  of  wise 
and  benevolent  design.  The  perspiration  diminishes  the 
heat  of  the  one,  while  the  concentrated  frame  of  the  other 
preserves  the  animal  warmth  ;  and,  while  it  probably  in- 
creases the  bodily  strength,  and  thus  gives  additional 
power  both  of  exertion  and  endurance,  affords  the  faculty 
of  existence  on  a  diminished  quantity  of  food.  The  state 
of  the  Negro  is  well  known,  and  therefore  need  not  be 
dwelt  on  ;  but,  as  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
polar  regions  is  less  familiar  to  the  public,  and  comes 
more  immediately  under  our  present  subject,  it  may  be 
proper  to  show  how  far  the  view  we  have  taken  of  their 
bodily  constitution  corresponds  with  their  known  habits 
and  powers.  Goldsmith,  following  Buffon,  gives  a  most 
unamiable  account  of  the  personal  appearance  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  inhospitable  countries,  including,  under 
one  description,  the  Laplanders,  the  Esquimaux  Indians, 
the  Samaoid  Tartars,  the  natives  of  Nova  Zembla,  the 
Borandians,  the  Greenlanders,  and  the  Kamtschatkans. 
His  description  of  their  habits,  however,  shows,  them 
to  be  powerful,  active,  and  patient  of  fatigue,  cold,  and 
hunger,  to  a  remarkable  degree.  Speaking  of  the  Lap- 
landers, he  says,  "  They  make  use  of  skates,  which  are 
made  of  fir,  of  nearly  three  feet  long,  and  a  half  broad. 
With  these, they  skate  on  the  icy  snow,  and  with  such  a 
velocity,  that  they  very  easily  overtake  the  swiftest  ani- 
mals. With  these  skates,  they  descend  the  steepest 
mountains,  and  scale  the  most  craggy  precipices  ;  and, 
in  such  exercises,  the  women  are  not  less  skilful  than  the 
men.  They  have  also  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow, 
which  seems  to  be  a  contrivance  common  to  all  barba- 
rous nations  ;  and  which,  however,  at  first  required  no 


288  MAN  IN  WINTER. 

small  skill  to  invent.  They  launch  a  javelin  also  with 
great  force,  and  some  say  that  they  can  hit  a  mark  no 
larger  than  a  crown,  at  thirty  yards'  distance,  and  with 
such  force  as  would  pierce  a  man  through." 

In  reference  to  the  whole  race  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
extreme  north,  this  author  observes,  that,  u  in  propor- 
tion as  we  approach  the  pole,  the  size  of  the  natives  ap- 
pears to  diminish,  growing  less  and  less  as  we  advance 
higher,  till  we  come  to  those  latitudes  that  are  destitute 
of  all  inhabitants  whatever  ;  and  then  he  adds  the  follow- 
ing interesting  and  characteristic  account. 

"  The  wretched  natives  of  these  climates  seem  fitted 
by  Nature  to  endure  the  rigors  of  their  situation.  As 
their  food  is  but  scanty  and  precarious,  their  patience  in 
hunger  is  amazing.  A  man,  who  has  eaten  nothing  for 
four  days,  can  manage  his  little  canoe  in  the  most  furious 
waves,  and  calmly  subsist  in  the  midst  of  a  tempest  that 
would  quickly  dash  a  European  boat  to  pieces.  Their 
strength  is  not  less  amazing  than  their  patience.  A  wo- 
man among  them,  will  carry  a  piece  of  timber  or  a  stone, 
nearly  double  the  weight  of  what  a  European  can  lift." 

This  general  statement,  which  is  intended  to  apply  to 
several  distinct  tribes,  is  probably  pretty  accurate,  so  far 
as  it  goes,  though  perhaps  somewhat  overcharged.  Re- 
cent voyages  and  travels  have  made  us  better  acquainted 
with  the  people  of  those  regions,  and  some  interesting 
facts,  both  with  regard  to  the  character  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  their  mode  of  life,  have  come  to  light,  as  well  as 
with  regard  to  the  peculiarities  of  soil  and  climate,  and  the 
nature  of  animal  and  vegetable  productions,  of  which,  in 
a  few  subsequent  papers,  we  shall  avail  ourselves.  Mean- 
while, the  reader  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  pecu- 
liar arrangements  by  which  the  most  rigorous  climates  are 
accommodated  to  the  subsistence  of  man ;  or  to  perceive 
in  these  arrangements,  the  most  distinct  traces  of  an  In- 
telligent Designer.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  extremes  both 
of  heat  and  cold,  there  seems  to  be  something  unfriendly 
to  the  developement  of  the  mental  powers  ;  but  still  it  is 
cheering  and  instructive  to  see  every  where  provision 
made  for  that  rational  being,  whom,  of  all  his  sublunary 


PROVIDENCE   OF   GOD.  289 

works,  the  Creator  has  endowed  with  faculties  capable 
of  discerning  Himself,  and  offering  up  the  thanksgivings 
of  creation. 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

THE  UNCEASING  AND  UNIVERSAL  PROVIDENCE  OF  GOD. 

THERE  are  many  associations  connected  with  this 
season  of  the  year,  which  lead  the  religious  mind  to  look 
back  on  past  events,  as  well  as  forward  to  the  future,  in 
reference  to  the  operations  of  that  Divine  Being,  in  whom 
we  live  and  move.  In  contemplating  these,  we  see  a 
thousand  things  which,  even  to  our  diminutive  understand- 
ings, appear  to  be  insignificant,  and  a  thousand  more 
which  seem  to  have  happened  contrary  to  reasonable 
expectations.  Such  considerations  induce  us  to  inquire 
if  it  be  indeed  true,  that  a  God  of  infinite  perfection  pre- 
sides over  these  events,  and  occupies  Himself  with  the 
minute  concerns  of  the  little  world  we  inhabit.  The  in- 
quiry is  at  all  times  interesting. 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  the  perfections  of  the 
Godhead  are  manifested  not  only  in  the  large  and  mag- 
nificent scale  of  operations,  to  which  the  view  of  the 
starry  heavens  introduces  us  ;  but  just  as  clearly  and 
convincingly  in  the  smaller,  and,  to  our  limited  appre- 
hensions, less  important,  arrangements  of  our  terrestrial 
globe.  Numerous  evidences  of  this  truth  have  come 
under  our  notice,  in  the  compensations,  adjustments,  and 
contrivances,  by  which  the  general  welfare  of  living  be- 
ings is  provided  for,  even  in  the  bleak  season  of  winter, 
and  under  circumstances  apparently  the  most  unfavorable. 
Nor  is  it  in  created  objects  themselves,  alone,  but  in  their 
daily  history  also,  that  the  same  character  is  to  be  per- 
ceived ;  for  the  God  who  made,  continues  to  preserve 
His  creatures  ;  and  the  same  Hand,  which  wheels  the 
I.  25  vii. 


290  PROVIDENCE   OF  GOD. 

planets  in  their  orbits,  and  orders  and  arranges  their  daily 
positions,  and  their  mutual  attractions,  is  as  divinely  oc- 
cupied in  preserving  the  various  races  of  His  terrestrial 
offspring,  and  in  directing  the  daily  occurrences  by  which 
their  individual  experience  is  distinguished. 

That  the  Almighty  watches  over  each  of  the  beings 
He  has  made,  and  appoints  its  situation  and  its  history 
in  all  their  varied  vicissitudes,  seems  to  follow  from  the 
fact,  that  He  at  first  saw  fit  to  create  it ;  for,  to  imagine 
that  God  should  have  formed  any  creature,  without  hav- 
ing previously  arranged  the  uses  to  which  it  should  be 
put,  the  place  it  should  occupy  in  the  economy  of  crea- 
tion, and  the  mode  by  which  it  should  contribute  to  the 
advancement  of  His  glory,  is  just  to  suppose  Him  such 
a  one  as  ourselves, — ignorant  and  unsteady,  fluctuating 
in  His  designs,  and  capricious  in  His  conduct.  Nor  does 
the  meanness  of  any  of  the  creatures  affect  the  question. 
The  fact,  that  it  has  been  esteemed  worthy  to  be  made, 
establishes  the  other  fact,  that,  so  long  as  it  exists,  its 
movements  and  its  history  must  be  ordered  and  superin- 
tended by  God  ;  and  that  the  least  noticed  and  most 
ordinary  occurrences  connected  with  it,  are  under  His 
control.  It  requires,  for  this  minute  care  and  superin- 
tendence, no  greater  condescension,  than  for  its  original 
formation ;  and,  if  it.be  granted,  that  God  is  not  degraded 
by  the  latter,  it  is  inconsistent  to  imagine  any  degradation 
to  attach  to  the  former. 

To  every  argument,  therefore,  used  to  support  an  op- 
posite conclusion,  it  were  enough  to  reply,  that,  as  it  is 
God's  to  create,  so  it  is  His  to  uphold  ;  and,  though  to 
some  of  the  creatures  have  been  assigned  a  nobler  place, 
and  a  higher  destiny,  than  to  others,  the  meanest,  as  well 
as  the  most  exalted,  must  receive  from  God  whatever 
care  is  necessary  to  enable  them  to  fulfil  the  designs  for 
which  they  were  created.  The  seraph  has  his  place 
assigned  amid  the  glories  of  the  celestial  palace,  where  he 
is  for  ever  and  ever  hymning  the  praises  of  his  Creator. 
The  pebble  of  the  brook,  whether  it  lies  perpetually  un- 
noticed among  the  stones  in  which  it  was  originally  im- 
bedded, or  serves,  in  the  hand  of  one  under  the  Divine 


PROVIDENCE    OF   GOD,  291 

guidance,  like  that  used  by  the  stripling  David,  to  smite 
an  enemy  of  God  in  the  forehead,  has  been  made,  and 
has  had  its  place  assigned,  by  the  same  infinite  Jehovah. 
Both  are  equally  the  property  of  God,  and  each,  in  its 
own  allotted  place,  is  equally  well  suited  for  the  ends  for 
which  it  was  intended.  Both,  therefore,  are  under  the 
care  of  God,  and  each  will  be  so  ordered  and  guided,  as 
to  promote  His  eternal  designs.  That  view  of  God's 
providence,  which,  affecting  to  place  Him  above  the  con- 
templation or  the  care  of  His  creatures,  however  small 
or  insignificant  they  may  appear  to  us,  divests  Him  of 
the  glory  attending  the  daily  preservation  of  so  many  mi- 
nute wonders,  can  only  be  adopted  by  one  whose  ideas 
of  value  are  formed  on  the  gross  supposition,  that  bulk 
constitutes  importance,  and  whose  intellect  is  incapable 
of  grasping  the  fact,  that  to  the  mind  of  God,  whatever 
we  can  perceive  of  the  vast  and  magnificent  in  creation, 
is  but,  after  all,  a  point,  requiring  for  its  maintenance  no 
greater  trouble  or  care  at  His  hands,  than  the  little  fly, 
which  dances  in  the  sunbeam,  or  the  inanimate  clod, 
which  we  tread  beneath  our  feet. 

From  this  doctrine  may  be  deduced  a  sufficiently  ob- 
vious, and  no  less  important  lesson — a  lesson  of  faith  and 
dependence  on  that  God,  by  whom  all  things  are  arranged 
and  governed.  If  even  the  tiniest  insect  is  thus  under 
His  care,  how  much  reason  have  we  to  feel  satisfied  that 
He  will  care  for  us.  Such  was  the  instruction  deduced 
by  our  blessed  Lord,  from  the  same  subject  : — "  Behold, 
the  fowls  of  the  air  :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they 
reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? 
Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin  :  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that 
even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  not  arrayed  like  one 
of  these.  If  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which 
to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  He 
not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?" 

The  providential  care  manifested  towards  us  by  our 
Creator,  is  shown  not  only  in  the  greater  and  more  im- 
portant events,  but  in  every  circumstance  by  which  our 


292  PROVIDENCE   OF  GOD. 

lot  is  varied,  however  minute,  or  however  trivial  ; — in 
the  casual  meeting  of  a  friend,  which  seems  to  lead  to 
nothing,  as  well  as  in  the  circumstances  immediately  con- 
nected with  our  birth,  our  conversion,  our  marriage,  or 
our  death.  This  will  be  the  more  readily  granted,  when 
it  is  perceived,  that  the  distinction  between  trifling  and 
important  events  cannot  be  accurately  made  by  us,  and 
that  those  which  would  generally  be  classed  among  the 
former,  are  very  frequently  the  fruitful  parents  of  the  most 
momentous  occurrences. 

Does  not  the  history  of  every  one  of  us  testify  to  the 
influence  of  the  very  smallest  and  most  unheeded  of  the 
occurrences  by  which  it  has  been  marked  ?  Has  not  the 
falling  of  a  leaf,  or  the  waving  of  a  branch  moved  by  the 
gentle  breath  of  heaven,  suggested  a  thought,  or  led  to  a 
resolution  fraught  with  important  consequences  to  our 
future  lives  ?  And  who  can  tell  the  thousand — thousand 
links,  minute  and  unremembered,  that  have  every  one 
been  necessary,  in  its  own  place,  to  bring  about  the  end 
which  has  at  length  occurred, — the  strange  coincidences, 
the  apparently  accidental  events,  the  meetings,  the  sur- 
prises, the  conversations,  the  reflections,  the  very  moods 
of  mind  which  have  entered  into  the  composition  of  the 
final  act,  and  which,  had  any  one  of  them  been  different, 
even  though  that  one  had  been  the  least  noticed  among 
the  preparatory  steps,  must  have  led  to  a  different  result. 

And,  then,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  chief  events  in 
the  life  of  the  humblest  citizen,  who  can  tell  what  an  in- 
fluence these  may  indirectly  exercise  over  the  happiness 
of  his  neighborhood,  or  the  fate  of  his  country,  or  the 
destiny  of  the  world  ?  Had  Hampden's  spirit  never  been 
excited  by  the  injustice  of  his  rulers,  who  can  tell  what 
form  of  tyranny  might  now  have  been  swaying  the  sceptre 
of  Britain  ?  and  had  Britain,  at  that  era,  slept  on  in  her 
chains,  instead  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  her  oppressors, 
who  can  say  whether  any  nation  in  the  world  would  at 
this  moment  have  been  free  ? 

Thus  constant,  thus  minute,  is  the  providential  care  of 
God.  As  He  is  wise,  let  us  look  to  Him  for  the  ultimate 
adjustment  of  whatever  appears  to  our  short-sighted  vision 


INHABITANTS    OF   THE   POLAR  REGIONS.  293 

either  distorted  or  unworthy  of  His  character.  As  He 
is  good,  let  us  entertain  the  confidence,  that  they  who 
serve  Him  in  the  gospel  of  His  dear  Son,  shall  be  brought 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  earthly  history  to  the 
eternal  mansions  at  last,  and  that,  dark  as  the  experience 
of  His  saints  may  be,  He  will  cause  all  things  to  work 
together  for  their  real  good.  G.  J.  C.  D. 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

I.    ON  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS. 

WE  are  naturally  led,  from  the  contemplation  of  man 
in  winter,  to  view  him  placed,  by  the  hand  of  Providence, 
amid  the  horrors  of  the  Frozen  Zone,  where  summer 
hardly  ever  penetrates,  even  in  its  least  striking  charac- 
teristics ;  where  the  solar  heat  is  barely  sufficient  to  dis- 
solve, for  a  few  months,  the  snow  on  the  lower  grounds, 
or  the  southern  slopes,  and  to  awaken  the  vegetable  world 
to  so  languid  a  life,  that  even  the  hardier  tribes  of  herbiv- 
orous animals  find  but  a  meager  subsistence.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  conjecture  any  inducement  which  could 
have  led  originally  to  the  voluntary  occupation  by  man 
of  so  inhospitable  and  sterile  an  abode ;  and  we  are  almost 
constrained  to  rest  on  the  idea,  that,  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  Divine  intention  of  peopling  the  globe,  the 
Supreme  Governor  has  urged  mankind,  by  some  myste- 
rious impulse,  independent  of  his  natural  inclinations. 
Furnished  with  a  power  of  accommodation  to  all  climates, 
and  aided  and  prompted,  no  doubt,  by  circumstances, 
man  has  often  unconsciously  fulfilled  the  first  command 
of  his  Creator,  "Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish 
the  earth."  Issuing  from  the  Plain  of  Shinar,  to  every 
point  of  the  compass,  the  human  race,  after  filling  up 
the  fertile  regions  of  the  Asiatic  continent,  radiated  thence 
towards  all  the  quarters  of  the  globe  ;  till,  after  the  lapse 
25* 


294  INHABITANTS   OF 

of  ages,  they  brought  the  most  inhospitable  regions,  and 
most  distant  islands,  under  their  dominion.  In  this  process 
of  dispersion,  even  the  wastes  of  Siberia,  and  the  snowy 
deserts  of  Boothia  Felix,  received  a  portion  of  the  human 
family.  God,  by  whom  they  were  conducted,  and  who 
had  implanted  within  them  an  indomitable  perseverance, 
and  an  amazing  versatility  of  mind,  had  also  prepared 
for  them,  even  there,  the  means  of  subsistence  ;  and, 
though  hardships  were  to  be  encountered,  and  difficulties 
to  be  overcome,  of  which  the  inhabitants  of  more  favored 
climes  were  ignorant,  there  was  spread  for  them,  in  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Nature,  a  provision  ample  enough 
to  satisfy  all  their  real  wants. 

In  illustrating  this  subject,  I  shall  turn  my  attention, 
exclusively,  to  the  state  and  character  of  those  nations 
who  are  known  by  the  general  name  of  Esquimaux,  and 
who  dwell  in  the  most  northerly  regions  hitherto  explored, 
I  mean  the  higher  latitudes  of  the  continent  of  America. 
Consulting  those  enterprising  adventurers  who  have,  in 
later  years,  penetrated  the  frozen  seas,  or  wintered  among 
the  snows  and  storms  of  this  extreme  portion  of  the  world, 
we  shall  thus  be  brought  to  understand  how  ample  are 
the  resources  of  Providence,  even  in  the  very  coldest 
portions  of  the  world  ;  and,  much  more,  how  rich  must 
be  the  provision  made  by  the  Creator  in  countries  where 
the  frost  is  less  intense,  and  the  rigors  of  the  climate  less 
severe.  We  shall  find  that  objects,  which,  in  temper- 
ate latitudes  like  ours,  are  regarded  as  useless  or  trouble- 
some, are  there  capable  of  being  turned  to  the  most  valu- 
able account  ;  that  the  snow,  for  example,  which,  to  the 
delicate  foot  of  the  luxurious  European,  is  cold,  and 
damp,  and  disagreeable,  grows  in  importance  as  we  travel 
towards  this  ultimate  corner  of  the  earth.  In  the  back 
woods  of  Canada,  during  the  grim  reign  of  winter,  it  af- 
fords the  only  means  of  transporting  the  produce  of  the 
land  ;  and,  what  is  very  remarkable,  forms  a  hard  and 
easy  path,  for  this  purpose,  at  the  very  season  when  the 
convenience  of  the  agriculturist  demands  it.  But,  in  the 
native  country  of  the  Esquimaux,  we  shall  find  its  value 
greatly  enhanced,  affording  shelter  and  warmth,  as  well 


THE   POLAR  REGIONS.  295 

as  facilities  of  easy  transit.  It  is  true,  we  shall  not  dis- 
cover, in  these  wild  and  miserable  districts,  accommoda- 
tions either  so  choice  or  so  convenient  as  in  temperate 
regions  :  Nor  will  our  general  argument  thereby  be  weak- 
ened. God,  who  has  arranged  the  various  conditions  of 
the  different  orders  of  His  creatures,  has  kindly  bestowed 
upon  some,  advantages  which  He  has  seen  meet  to  with- 
hold from  others  ;  and,  while  we  perceive  that  this  is  but 
consistent  with  the  general  system  of  His  providence 
throughout  our  degenerate  world,  it  is  enough  for  us  to 
know,  that,  even  amid  the  blackness  and  horrors  of  an 
Arctic  winter,  we  can  find  ample  reason  to  adore  that 
goodness,  which,  under  circumstances  apparently  hope- 
less, has  provided  a  sufficiency  for  the  sustenance  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  His  rational  creatures. 

The  grand  necessities  of  that  remote  people,  then, 
may  be  considered  under  the  several  heads  of  Food, 
Clothing,  Dwellings,  Fire,  and  Light. 

1.  The  daily  food  of  the  Esquimaux,  as  may  well  be 
supposed,  is  not  directly  derived  from  the  soil.  The 
land,  perhaps  in  itself  sterile,  and  at  all  events  incapable, 
from  the  seventy  of  the  climate,  of  yielding  a  remunerat- 
ing return  for  its  cultivation,  lies  undisturbed  by  the  hand 
of  man,  in  all  its  original  barrenness.  Its  spontaneous 
productions  are  few  and  of  small  value. 

On  the  melting  of  the  snow,  the  surface  of  the  earth  is 
found  clothed  with  a  stunted  herbage,  consisting  chiefly 
of  short  coarse  grass,  affording  a  sufficient  meal  to  the 
tribes  of  animals,  which,  during  the  winter  months,  had 
migrated  to  less  sterile  countries,  but  offering  little  to 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  human  appetite,  and  still  less 
to  provoke  the  indulgence  of  a  luxurious  taste.  A  few 
of  the  vegetable  productions,  indeed,  are  occasionally 
employed  by  the  natives  ;  but  they  are  neither  depended 
on  as  necessaries  of  life,  nor  cultivated  for  domestic  pur- 
poses. Under  these  circumstances,  the  hardy  natives 
are  driven  to  the  resources  afforded  by  the  animal  pro- 
ductions with  which,  happily,  their  country  abounds.  Of 
these  we  may  mention  several  of  the  more  remarkable. 
The  smaller  species  of  rein-deer  which,  in  summer,  are 


296  INHABITANTS   OF  THE   POLAR  REGIONS. 

found  in  considerable  numbers  over  the  most  northerly 
districts  of  America,  and  even  among  the  islands  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  where  they  arrive  in  spring  by  crossing 
the  yet  unbroken  ice,  offer  them  a  delicious  banquet. 
These  animals  are  tracked  through  the  snow  with  that 
zeal  and  perseverance  which  generally  characterize  the 
hunting  excursions  of  a  barbarous  people  ;  and,  notwith- 
standing their  proverbial  fleetness,  fall  victims,  in  great 
numbers,  to  the  sure  aim  of  the  Esquimaux  archers. 
The  musk-ox  is  an  animal  peculiar  to  very  cold  and  in- 
hospitable latitudes  ;  and  though,  being  sometimes  of  a 
savage  temper,  he  needs  to  be  approached  with  caution, 
is  constantly  pursued,  as  affording  a  principal  article  of 
food.  At  certain  seasons,  indeed,  its  flesh  possesses  a 
very  strong  and  unpleasant  flavor  of  that  odorous  produc- 
tion from  which  its  name  is  derived ;  but,  in  general,  it 
is  highly  palatable,  and  has  often  been  eaten  with  relish 
by  Europeans,  who  describe  it  as  very  similar  in  taste  to 
beef.  To  these  may  be  added  the  hare,  the  wolf,  and 
the  fox ;  the  two  last  of  which  are  caught  in  ingenious 
traps,  baited  with  fish,  or  any  sort  of  animal  garbage,  and 
are  readily  attracted  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  snare,  by 
setting  fire  to  a  little  rancid  oil  or  refuse  fat.  The  flesh 
of  the  fox,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  is  not  only  much 
esteemed  by  the  Esquimaux,  but  even  by  European  trav- 
ellers, who,  when  fresh  provisions  were  scarce,  have  often 
partaken  of  it  with  relish.  In  addition  to  these  quadru- 
peds, it  need  hardly  be  remarked,  that  the  Esquimaux 
are  furnished,  by  the  hand  of  their  bountiful  Creator, 
with  an  immense  and  most  valuable  supply  of  fish.  The 
enormous  whale  and  the  delicious  salmon,  the  walrus  and 
the  seal,  are  all  made  tributary  to  their  daily  necessities. 
They  have  exerted  their  ingenuity  in  the  preparation  of 
the  staves,  the  spears,  and  other  instruments  employed 
in  their  capture  ;  and  these,  though  far  indeed  from  the 
perfection  exhibited  in  the  tackle  of  a  European,  manifest 
a  greater  share  of  the  inventive  faculties  than  we  could 
easily  have  believed  to  belong  to  so  rude  and  ungainly  a 
people. 

The  immense  quantity  of  fish  taken  and  preserved  by 


FOOD  AND   CLOTHING.  297 

them,  every  season,  for  the  supply  of  their  winter  neces- 
sities, almost  exceeds  our  belief.  But  the  contemplation 
of  the  exuberant  abundance  which  their  stores  supply, 
while  it  leads  to  the  conclusion,  that  no  portion  of  the 
globe  is  so  wild  or  inhospitable  as  to  be  destitute  of 
proofs  of  the  care  and  rich  bounty  of  our  heavenly  Fa- 
ther, awakens  within  us  a  sentiment  of  adoration,  as  well 
as  of  astonishment.  "  The  earth  is  full  of  His  goodness." 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

II.  ON  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS.— FOOD 
AND  CLOTHING. 

IT  is  generally  admitted  by  physiologists,  that  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  human  body,  in  the  generation  of  internal 
heat,  though  dependent,  in  a  great  degree,  on  the  origi- 
nal constitution,  is  powerfully  affected  by  the  quality,  as 
well  as  the  quantity,  of  the  food  consumed.  It  would 
moreover  appear,  that,  to  excite  the  heating  powers  of 
the  living  principle  in  man,  there  is  nothing  found  by  ex- 
perience so  valuable  as  an  oily  diet.  In  temperate  re- 
gions, this  fact  is  recognised  by  medical  men,  in  cases 
of  protracted  rheumatism,  in  which  the  regular  use  of 
the  oil  extracted  from  the  liver  of  the  cod,  is  found  highly 
beneficial  in  bracing  the  system  to  resist  the  effects  of 
external  cold,  and  enabling  it,  by  an  increased  action,  to 
banish  the  gnawing  pains  of  that  distressing  complaint. 
Any  one  can  tell  how  much,  on  exposure  to  the  cold  of 
a  winter  day  in  our  own  climate,  hunger  increases  the 
chilly  sensations  of  the  body,  and  how  much  comfort  a 
sufficiency  of  animal  food  is  calculated  to  afford.  A 
meager  diet  is  best  adapted  to  a  warm  climate  or  season, 
agreeing  well  with  the  relaxed  state  of  the  body  under  an 
equinoctial  sun,  or  the  parching  heats  of  summer ;  but  af- 
fording no  defence  against  the  bitter  effects  of  a  severe 


293  INHABITANTS    OF   THE   POLAR  REGIONS. 

frost.  I  believe  it  has  been  frequently  remarked  by  per- 
sons familiar  with  the  Polar  Seas,  that  sailors  of  a  full 
habit  of  body,  a  sanguine  temperament,  and  a  florid  com- 
plexion, if  in  good  health,  are  the  least  affected  by  the 
feeling  of  severe  cold ;  and  these  are  just  the  men  most 
generally  addicted  to  eating  considerable  portions  of  ani- 
mal food.  A  thin  and  bilious  person,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  eats  sparingly,  and  loathes  a  large  proportion  of  fat 
or  oily  substances,  finds  it  painful  to  be  long  exposed  to 
the  chilling  influence  of  a  northern  sky.  How  remark- 
able an  example  of  Providential  care,  then,  does  it  ap- 
pear, that,  in  those  very  regions  where  the  internal  heat 
of  the  body  needs  most  to  be  excited,  an  inexhaustible 
supply  exists,  of  the  very  description  of  food  best  suited 
to  the  purpose  ;  and  that,  where  the  warmth  of  a  summer 
sun  never  summons  from  the  chilled  and  benumbed  earth 
a  vegetable  provision  for  the  calls  of  the  human  appetite, 
there  should  be  found — what  is  far  better — the  oils  and 
the  fat  with  which  the  Arctic  province  of  the  animal  king- 
dom so  peculiarly  abounds.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten, 
that  with  this  abundance  there  also  exists  a  relish,  on  the 
part  of  the  inhabitants,  for  substances,  the  mere  odor  of 
which,  in  the  chamber  where  they  are  to  be  partaken  of, 
is  sufficient  to  expel  with  disgust  a  native  of  this  country. 
The  incredible  quantity  of  this  description  of  food,  ran- 
cid as  it  is,  which  an  Esquimaux  is  capable  of  devouring 
.  at  a  meal,  has  astonished  the  Europeans  by  whom  it  has 
been  witnessed.  Twenty  pounds  of  salmon,  for  instance, 
is  stated  as  no  uncommon  quantity  to  be  devoured  by  an 
individual  at  a  single  meal.  Excess,  indeed,  is  followed, 
among  them,  as  well  as  in  more  civilized  nations,  with  its 
own  punishment ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the 
cold  of  these  regions  is  materially  deprived  of  its  painful 
effects  on  the  human  frame  by  eating  as  largely  as  Nature 
will  easily  permit ;  so  that  the  tendency  to  make  a  full 
meal,  which  is  universally  exhibited  among  them,  and  is 
no  doubt  a  part  of  their  constitution,  must  be  looked  upon 
as  a  collateral  provision  of  the  same  wise  overruling 
Power,  liable,  indeed,  to  abuse,  but,  when  rightly  regu- 
lated, calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of  this  remote 
people. 


FOOD  AND   CLOTHING.  299 

2.  The  clothing  of  the  Arctic  tribes,  and  especially 
of  the  Esquimaux,  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  furs. 
Providence,  which  has  kindly  adapted  the  coats  of  the 
lower  animals  in  these  regions,  to  the  rigors  of  their  cli- 
mate, has  thus,  at  the  same  time,  brought  within  the 
reach  of  man  the  means  of  a  warm  exterior  defence  from 
the  cold  to  which  he  is  exposed. 

Neither  the  flannels  of  more  civilized  countries,  nor 
the  skins  of  more  southern  climates,  are  at  all  to  be  com- 
pared to  the  valuable  clothing  with  which,  by  the  same 
exertion  and  ingenuity  which  are  requisite  to  procure 
their  food,  they  are  furnished,  among  the  hills  and  islands 
of  their  icy  home.  The  long  hair,  which  gives  to  the 
white  bear  and  musk-ox  their  shaggy  aspect ;  the  rough 
coat  of  the  rein-deer,  the  hare,  and  the  fox, — cover  a  close 
warm  downy  inner  garment  of  fur,  rendered  thicker  by 
the  first  severe  onset  of  winter,  which  effectually  pre- 
serves the  animal,  for  which  it  was  originally  provided, 
from  the  intensity  of  the  northern  storms  ;  and,  when 
snatched  from  its  first  owner  by  the  lord  of  the  lower 
world,  affords  to  him  a  similar  protection.  Clothed  in  a 
double  garment  of  deer-skin,  encircling  the  body,  and 
reaching  in  front  from  the  chin  to  the  middle  of  the  thigh, 
and  behind  to  the  calf  of  the  leg,  with  sleeves  so  long  as 
to  cover  the  points  of  the  fingers ;  with  the  hair  of  the 
inner  garment,  as  a  warm  exciting  covering,  next  the 
body,  and  that  of  the  outer  one,  from  its  roughness,  ex- 
tremely unfavorable  to  the  radiation  of  heat,  in  the  reverse 
direction  ;  his  limbs  protected  by  two  pairs  of  boots, 
and,  above  these,  trowsers  of  the  skin  of  the  seal  or  of 
the  deer, — an  Esquimaux  can  endure,  without  danger  or 
inconvenience,  a  degree  of  cold,  to  which  we,  in  this 
temperate  zone,  are  utter  strangers.  Nor  are  we  to  ima- 
gine that  the  piercing  climate,  which  has  imposed  the 
necessity  for  such  defences,  has  had  any  effect  in  souring 
the  dispositions  or  lessening  the  enjoyments  of  this  singu- 
lar race.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  generally  been 
found  remarkable  for  their  good-humor  and  easy  temper. 
Their  very  dresses,  frequently  ornamented  with  fringes 
of  leather,  or  tassels  of  bone,  bear  testimony  that  the 


300          INHABITANTS   OF  THE   POLAR  REGIONS. 

hardships  of  their  lot  have  neither  cramped  their  taste, 
nor  stifled  their  natural  love  of  ornament.  With  an  air 
of  freedom  and  of  personal  comfort  that  can  hardly  be 
believed,  while  he  enjoys  the  protection  I  have  just  de- 
scribed, the  hardy  native  courageously  braves  an  inten- 
sity of  frost  sufficient  to  congeal  mercury.  He  proceeds 
on  his  journey,  or  pursues  his  prey,  with  a  hilarity  and 
keenness  which  testify,  that  the  Being  who  has  placed 
him  among  the  horrors  of  his  icy  abode,  has  also  afford- 
ed him  ample  means  of  defence  and  enjoyment. 

G.  J.  C.  D. 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY . 

III.    ON    THE  INHABITANTS    OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS. DWEL- 
LINGS   AND    FIRE. 

3.  IN  all  climates,  but  more  especially  in  the  extreme 
north,  it  is  a  matter  of  indispensable  importance  to  the 
inhabitants,  to  provide  for  themselves  shelter  from  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather.  The  lengthened  journeys 
which  these  tribes  are  compelled  by  their  necessities  to 
undertake,  the  frequency  of  their  removals,  and  the  ob- 
literating effects  of  falling  snow,  all  tend  to  render  it  at 
once  inconvenient  and  useless  for  them,  even  were  it 
practicable,  to  erect  permanent  dwelling-places.  Had 
they  wood,  stone,  and  mortar  at  command,  these  mate- 
rials would  be  to  them  of  little  avail.  The  villages  of 
to-day,  deserted  to-morrow,  and  next  day  buried  many 
feet  beneath  the  snowy  covering  which  enveloped,  for 
so  large  a  proportion  of  the  year,  the  surface  of  their 
country,  would,  ere  their  return,  be  altogether  useless, 
even  if  they  were  sure,  at  the  end  of  several  months,  to 
find  the  spot  on  which  they  stood.  But  we  need  not  say 
that  such  appliances  as  these  are  not  within  their  reach. 
The  wreck  left  by  the  southern  wave,  when  it  washes 


DWELLINGS  AND   FIRE.  301 

their  shores,  may  sometimes,  indeed,  provide  them  with 
a  tree,  a  mast,  or  a  spar ;  but  these  materials  are  too 
eagerly  coveted,  and  too  valuable  for  constructing  the 
smaller  articles  required  by  them,  to  leave  any  sufficient 
proportion  for  such  purposes  as  building ;  while,  of  the 
architectural  uses  of  stone  and  lime,  they  seem  to  be  al- 
together ignorant. 

But  for  all  these  wants,  they  are  furnished,  by  the  pro- 
tecting providence  of  God,  with  an  ample  and  highly 
appropriate  substitute,  however  strange  it  may  appear  to 
the  inhabitants  of  temperate  regions.  The  snow  which 
covers  the  soil  for  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  year, 
offers  them  the  refuge  which  their  necessities  require. 
Migrating,  as  they  do,  from  time  to  time,  in  search 
of  food,  at  the  close  of  each  day's  journey,  they  erect 
their  temporary  dwellings,  at  little  expense  either  of 
materials  or  workmanship  ;  and,  when  they  reach  the 
station  which  they  propose  to  occupy  for  a  few-  months, 
even  then  their  mode  of  building  is  of  the  simplest  sort. 
It  is  thus  described  by  Sir  John  Ross  : — "  Having  as- 
certained, by  the  rod  used  in  examining  seal-holes, 
whether  the  snow  is  sufficiently  deep  and  solid,  they  level 
the  intended  spot  by  a  wooden  shovel,  leaving  beneath 
a  solid  mass  of  snow,  not  less  than  three  feet  thick* . 
Commencing,  then,  in  the  centre  of  the  intended  circle, 
which  is  ten  feet  or  more  in  diameter,  different  wedge- 
shaped  blocks  are  cut  out,  about  two  feet  long,  and  a 
foot  thick,  at  the  outer  part ;  then  trimming  them  accu- 
rately by  the  knife,  they  proceed  upward,  until  the 
courses,  gradually  inclining  inwards,  terminate  in  a  per- 
fect dome.  The  door,  being  cut  out  from  the  inside, 
before  it  is  quite  closed,  serves  to  supply  the  upper  ma- 
terials. In  the  mean  time,  the  women  are  employed  in 
stuffing  the  joints  with  snow,  and  the  boys  in  construct- 
ing kennels  for  the  dogs."  In  the  interior,  the  only 
furniture  that  is  to  be  seen,  consists  of  a  sofa  of  snow, 
occupying  nearly  a  third  of  the  breadth  of  the  area,  about 
two  feet  and  a  half  high,  level  at  the  top,  and  covered 
with  various  skins,  forming  the  general  bed  or  sleeping- 
place.  The  hut  is  lighted  by  a  window  of  ice  nicely 
i.  26  vn. 


302  INHABITANTS   OP  THE   POLAR  REGIONS. 

inserted  in  the  building,  and  secured  by  frozen  snow ;  and 
the  entrance  is  by  a  passage,  long,  narrow,  and  crooked, 
the  outer  aperture  of  which  is  planned,  and  from  time  to 
time  altered,  so  as  to  secure  the  inmates  from  the  pre- 
vailing winds  of  the  season.  The  stores  are  laid  up  in 
smaller  huts  constructed  to  receive  them  ;  and  they,  and 
the  kennels  for  the  dogs,  which  invariably  accompany  the 
tribes,  are  formed  of  the  same  material. 

It  will  naturally  be  conjectured,  that  such  dwellings  as 
have  now  been  described,  must  be  extremely  cold,  and 
liable,  on  any  accession  of  artificial  heat,  to  be  rendered 
altogether  uninhabitable,  by  the  perpetual  distillation  of 
water  from  the  icy  walls.  But  there  are  several  consid- 
erations which  must  be  taken  into  the  account,  to  enable 
us  to  judge  of  the  suitableness  of  these  habitations  for  the 
hardy  race  who  occupy  them.  It  must  be  noticed, in  the 
first  place,  as  a  most  important  provision  for  their  com- 
fort, that  snow  is  a  very  imperfect  conductor  of  heat. 
The  severe  cold  of  the  external  air,  therefore,  makes  but 
a  small  impression  on  the  temperature  of  a  chamber  situ- 
ated beneath  a  snow  wall  of  considerable  thickness. 
Then,  from  its  extreme  whiteness,  it  is,  comparatively 
speaking,  little  liable  to  be  dissolved  by  the  heat  of  a 
lamp  or  fire,  being  much  more  ready  to  reflect  caloric 
than  to  absorb  it.  These  facts,  however,  striking  as  they 
are,  it  is  clear,  could  not  prevent  the  most  annoying  ef- 
fects, were  a  strong  heat  constantly  kept  up  within  their 
circumscribed  apartments.  But  here  we  find  another 
important  provision.  The  bodily  frame,  in  all  latitudes, 
speedily  becomes  inured,  by  habit,  to  the  climate  to  which 
it  is  exposed,  and  the  standard  of  temperature  requisite 
for  comfort  accordingly  rises  or  falls,  as  we  live  nearer  the 
equator  or  the  poles.  While  the  African  shivers  under 
the  summer  warmth  of  the  temperate  zone,  a  degree  of 
heat  scarcely  sufficient  to  raise  the  mercury  to  the  freez- 
ing point  affords  to  the  patient  Esquimaux,  in  his  snowy 
hut,  quite  enough  of  warmth  to  make  him  comfortable  ; 
and,  even  if  the  temperature  should,  at  times,  be  raised 
so  high  as  to  promote  a  rapid  distillation  from  the  walls, 
his  ideas  of  luxury  do  not  render  this  a  very  serious  in- 


DWELLINGS  AND   FIRE.  303 

convenience.  When  we  remember  that  it  is  not  luxury 
which  these  rude  tribes  value,  but  simply  shelter,  we 
shall  be  less  surprised  with  their  contentment,  especially 
when  we  learn  that  their  clothing  affords  them  sufficient 
security  against  the  wetting  influence  even  of  melted 
snow.  They  experience  quite  as  much  of  comfort  as 
they  desire,  in  finding  themselves,  during  sleep,  snug  in 
their  bags  of  fur,  though  the  spot  on  which  they  lie  be 
neither  very  dry  nor  very  soft ;  for  this  defence,  provid- 
ed for  them  by  the  care  of  their  Divine  Preserver,  an- 
swers to  them  all  the  ends  for  which  it  is  needed. 

4.  In  a  region  such  as  this,  of  frost  and  snow,  of  storm 
and  tempest,  it  will  easily  be  believed  that  the  inhabit- 
ants are  very  dependant  on  fire,  as  a  means  of  sustaining 
life  ;  and  the  question  will  at  once  suggest  itself,  Whence 
can  they  derive  fuel  ?  Coals  are  unknown  to  them  ; 
and  wood,  we  have  seen,  is  much  too  valuable  to  be  used 
for  such  a  purpose.  But  they  are  not  left  destitute. 
Their  little  chambers  are  illuminated,  during  the  whole 
course  of  their  lengthened  winter,  by  the  cheerful,  warm, 
and  useful  blaze  of  the  lamp,  which  is  replenished  by 
oil  from  the  seals  yearly  destroyed,  in  immense  multi- 
tudes, by  the  native  hunters.  We  have  seen  how  valua- 
ble to  the  natives  of  these  arctic  regions,  is  the  oily 
nature  of  their  diet.  Here,  however,  we  find  that  Provi- 
dence had  another  end  in  view  in  affording  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  these  countries  so  large  a  supply  of  fat  and  oil 
as  that  which  is  obtained  from  several  of  the  cetaceous 
tribes  which  frequent  their  stormy  seas.  Nor  is  this  an 
end  less  essential  to  the  preservation  of  human  life. 
There,  where  no  other  fuel  could  be  had,  and  where, 
without  fire,  the  race  of  men  must  soon  have  become  ex- 
tinct, were  fixed  these  living  reservoirs  of  combustible 
fluid,  which  it  only  needed  the  exercise  of  reason,  of  per- 
severance, and  of  ingenuity,  to  bring  within  the  power  of 
the  human  family ;  by  which  a  provision  has  been  made 
for  their  wants,  infinitely  better  suited  to  the  circumstan- 
ces of  their  lot,  in  their  inhospitable  deserts,  than  any 
other  description  of  fuel  that  could  be  named.  Coals 
would  have  required  the  assistance  of  large  beasts  of  bur- 


304  FROST.— PROVISION  FOR  CAUSING 

den,  and  the  convenience  of  roads  to  remove  them  from 
the  pits  to  the  places  where  they  were  to  be  consumed, 
and  the  very  nature  of  the  climate  rendered  both  of  these 
equally  impossible  to  be  obtained.  Wood,  even  suppos- 
ing it  could  have  been  had,  would  have  been  almost  as 
inconvenient ;  but  the  seals  are  generally  to  be  met  with 
readily,  and  killed  with  ease,  affording,  for  a  moderate 
degree  of  labor  and  of  ingenuity,  not  only  an  ample  ban- 
quet, but  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  the  best  oil,  to 
feed  the  flame  on  which  their  food,  their  drink,  and  their 
comfort  mainly  depend.  How  can  we  contemplate  such 
facts  as  these,  without  admiring  the  goodness  and  the  care 
of  that  God  who  has  so  liberally  furnished  the  means  of 
subsistence,  even  in  this  wild,  desolate,  and  barren  coun- 
try !  G.  J.  C.  D. 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

I.  FROST. PROVISION    FOR    CAUSING   ICE    TO    FLOAT  ON    THE 

SURFACE. 

WITHOUT  heat,  everything  would  be  solid  ;  the  true 
way,  therefore,  of  viewing  liquids,  is  to  consider  them  as 
solids  in  a  melted  state.  Bodies  melt  at  different  tem- 
peratures, according  to  their  capacity  of  receiving  heat, 
and  to  the  nature  of  the  action  which  this  subtile  princi- 
ple produces  on  their  particles.  Thus,  it  requires  one 
degree  of  intensity  to  melt  stone,  another  to  melt  iron, 
another  to  melt  lead,  and  another  still  to  melt  ice.  In 
this  view,  ice  may  be  considered  as  the  natural  state  of 
the  element,  and  water  to  be  nothing  else  than  ice  ren- 
dered liquid,  like  other  substances,  by  heat.  When  the 
short  continuance  of  the  sun  above  the  horizon  in  winter, 
and  his  oblique  rays,  have  greatly  diminished  the  force 
of  his  influence,  he  is  no  longer  able  to  preserve  water 
in  a  liquid  state,  and  then  the  process  of  crystallization 


ICE  TO  FLOAT  ON  THE  SURFACE.        305 

takes  place,  and  ice  is  formed.  But  there  is  a  remarka- 
ble difference  between  ice  and  other  solid  bodies,  in  the 
laws  regulating  its  passage  from  a  liquid  to  a  crystallized 
state,  which  manifests  beneficent  intention. 

Take  water  in  its  common  state,  and  observe  what  oc- 
curs in  reference  to  heat.  It  is  the  property  of  water, 
in  common  with  other  liquids,  to  communicate  heat  not 
so  much  by  conduction,  as  it  is  called, — that  is,  by  trans- 
mitting the  temperature  from  particle  to  particle, — as 
by  a  motion  among  the  particles  themselves.  Liquids, 
like  solids,  expand  by  heat  and  contract  by  cold.  When 
heat,  therefore,  is  applied  to  the  bottom  of  a  vessel,  the 
expansion  diminishes  the  specific  gravity  of  the  particles 
affected  by  it,  and  they  rise  to  the  surface,  giving  place 
to  the  colder  and  heavier  particles,  which  again  are  heated 
in  their  turn,  and  ascend  ;  and  thus  the  process  proceeds, 
till  the  whole  liquid  is  of  equal  temperature.  In  cooling, 
the  opposite  process  takes  place  ;  the  particles,  as  they 
become  colder  at  the  surface,  subside,  while  others,  of 
higher  temperature,  supply  their  place,  and  this  inter- 
change and  mixture  goes  on,  till  the  whole  body  of  the 
liquid  becomes  as  cold  as  the  surface.  This  remarkable 
property  we  have  already  noticed  in  speaking  of  the  effect 
of  the  waters  of  the  ocean  in  mitigating  the  temperature 
of  different  climates.  Let  us  now  see  what  would  be  the 
consequence  if  the  same  laws  were  to  hold  without  limita- 
tion or  exception.  The  cooled  particles  constantly  de- 
scending, in  virtue  of  their  relative  specific  gravity, 
would,  when  the  freezing  point  was  reached,  suddenly 
convert  lakes  and  rivers,  and  the  bed  of  the  ocean  itself, 
into  a  solid  mass  of  ice,  the  congelation  beginning  at  the 
bottom,  and  quickly  spreading  upward.  Nor,  when  our 
deep  waters  were  once  frozen,  would  there  be  any  natu- 
ral means  in  existence  by  which  they  could  be  thawed  to 
the  bottom,  because  the  heated  particles,  being  the  light- 
est, would  constantly  float  at  the  top,  and  the  warmth 
could  only  be  diffused,  as  it  is  in  solids,  by  the  slower 
and  less  equable  means  of  conduction.  The  experiment 
has  been  made,  and  water  has  been  caused  to  boil  by  the 
26* 


306  FROST. PROVISION  FOR  CAUSING 

application  of  heat  to  a  vessel  partly  filled  with  ice,  with- 
out thawing  the  congealed  cake  below. 

Now,  this  would  be  attended  with  many  disadvantages. 
The  utility  of  our  seas  and  lakes,  in  our  own  and  similar 
latitudes,  would  be  destroyed  as  means  of  commerce  and 
of  subsistence  ;  and  that  element  which,  by  its  equal  and 
mild  temperature,  contributes  so  essentially  to  the  salu- 
brity of  all  climates,  from  the  tropics  to  the  polar  re- 
gions, would  serve  only  to  chill  the  atmosphere,  and  ren- 
der even  our  temperate  climates  inhospitable. 

Let  us,  then,  attend  to  the  modification  of  the  law  by 
which  this  inconvenience  is  provided  against.  Water 
continues  to  contract  by  the  application  of  cold,  till  it 
approaches  the  freezing  point ;  but  here  a  most  remarka- 
ble deviation  takes  place.  When  it  has  cooled  down  to 
forty  degrees,  instead  of  continuing  to  contract,  it  sudden- 
ly begins  to  expand,  and  it  proceeds  in  this  new  course, 
till,  at  thirty-two  degrees,  it  becomes  ice.  The  fluid 
is,  therefore,  at  its  greatest  density,  when  its  temperature 
is  just  eight  degrees  above  the  freezing  point ;  and  hence 
the  bottoms  of  our  seas  and  lakes  will  be  generally  found, 
in  winter,  not  to  exceed  that  extent  of  coldness.*  The 
coldest  water,  as  it  approaches  the  freezing  point,  rises 
to  the  surface.  There  the  ice  is  formed,  exposed  to  the 
first  return  of  a  more  genial  temperature,  and  ready  to 
dissolve  with  the  earliest  influences  of  a  warmer  sun. 

Another  remarkable  circumstance,  which  secures  the 
floating  of  ice  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  is,  that  in  the 
very  act  of  freezing,  a  further  expansion  takes  place. 
By  this  operation,  the  specific  gravity  of  ice  becomes 
less  than  that  of  water  under  any  circumstances,  and  it 
is  thus  prevented  from  sinking  to  the  bottom.  Did  no 
expansion  take  place  in  the  process  of  congelation,  ice 
would  continue  to  float  only  so  long  as  the  water,  on  the 
surface  of  which  it  was  formed,  remained  below  the  tem- 
perature of  forty  degrees.  If  the  temperature  happened 

*  It  seems  unnecessary  to  notice  some  remarkable  facts  which  have 
lately  attracted  public  attention,  that  appear  somewhat  to  modify  this 
conclusion,  ice  having  been  found  formed  at  the  bottom  of  some  deep 
lakes. 


ICE  TO  FLOAT  ON  THE  SURFACE.        307 

to  be  raised  above  this  point,  it  would  immediately  sink, 
and  be  overwhelmed,  giving  rise  to  various  inconvenien- 
ces, though  not  of  so  formidable  a  nature  as  those  already 
alluded  to. 

It  is  not  easy  for  the  most  skeptical  to  avoid  the  con- 
clusion, that  the  marked  and  salutary  deviation  in  this 
case,  from  the  law  by  which  matter  is  expanded  by  heat 
and  contracted  by  cold,  is  an  arrangement  of  an  intelli- 
gent and  beneficent  Creator.  The  general  rule  is  fol- 
lowed down  to  the  point  where  it  ceases  to  be  beneficial ; 
and  then,  by  a  sudden  and  surprising  change,  the  very 
opposite  rule  takes  place,  by  which  disastrous  effects  are 
prevented,  and  various  important  advantages  are  secured. 
Where  could  we  look  for  a  clearer  or  more  satisfactory 
proof  of  wise  contrivance  ? 

"We  do  not  know,"  says  Whewell,  "how  far  these 
laws  of  expansion  are  connected  with,  and  depend  on, 
more  remote  and  general  properties  of  this  fluid,  or  of 
all  fluids.  But  we  have  no  reason  to  believe,  that,  by 
whatever  means  they  operate,  they  are  not  laws  selected 
from  among  other  laws  which  might  exist,  as,  in  fact, 
for  other  fluids,  other  laws  do  exist.  We  have  all  the 
evidence  which  the  most  remarkable  furtherance  of  im- 
portant purposes  can  give  us,  that  they  are  selected,  and 
selected  with  a  beneficial  design." 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

II.    FROST. THE    EXPANSIVE    AND    NON-CONDUCTING   POWER 

OF  ICE. 

OUR  attention  was  yesterday  directed  to  some  of  the 
peculiar  provisions,  by  which  the  freezing  of  water  is  so 
modified  as  to  prevent  the  fatal  effects  that  would  ensue, 
were  the  general  law  of  expansion  and  contraction  which 
regulates  heated  bodies,  to  operate  without  being  arrested 


308  FROST. EXPANSIVE   AND 

and  altered.  But  there  are  one  or  two  other  beneficial 
operations  of  frost  in  our  climate,  which  must  not  be 
passed  without  notice. 

The  expansive  power  of  water,  when  passing  into  ice, 
has  already  been  stated.  This  power  operates  with  great 
force,  as  has  been  ascertained  by  experiment.  A  famil- 
iar instance  occurs  in  the  bursting  of  bottles  filled  with 
water  or  other  liquids,  when  corked  up  and  exposed  to 
its  influence.  The  same  power  affects  the  soil,  when 
saturated  with  moisture,  heaving  up  and  separating  the 
particles  of  earth  and  gravel.  This  sometimes  acts  dis- 
advantageously,  by  throwing  out  the  plants  of  young 
wheat,  and  by  loosening  the  materials  of  which  our  roads 
are  composed  ;  but  it  amply  repays  these  partial  incon- 
veniences, by  its  pulverizing  effects  on  tenacious  soils. 
Stiff  loams,  as  they  are  called,  that  is,  lands  chiefly  com- 
posed  of  an  unctuous  clay,  though  abounding  in  the  vege- 
tative principle,  are  yet  naturally  in  an  unfit  state  for  suc- 
cessful cultivation.  Their  tenacity  prevents  the  absorption 
and  removal  of  the  superfluous  moisture  during  rainy 
seasons,  and  in  drought  renders  the  soil  so  indurated,  as 
to  obstruct  the  free  growth  of  the  roots  of  plants,  and 
the  secretion  of  sap.  Now  the  agriculturist  knows  how 
to  obviate  these  disadvantages,  by  the  exposure  of  this 
kind  of  soil  to  the  influence  of  frost.  He  ploughs  up  his 
land  into  furrows  ;  and,  by  thus  presenting  it  to  the  freez- 
ing process,  finds  that  the  water  mingled  with  the  soil,  as 
it  expands  in  being  converted  into  ice,  separates,  with 
irresistible  force,  the  adhesive  particles  of  the  clay  ;  and, 
when  again  contracted,  and  rendered  liquid  by  thawing, 
leaves  the  earth  finely  pulverized,  and  brought  into  a  state 
well  fitted  for  giving  forth  its  prolific  qualities  in  the 
ensuing  year. 

Another  beneficial  property  of  frost,  in  the  form  of  ice 
as  well  as  of  snow,  is  the  power  it  possesses  of  confining 
the  cold  to  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  ice  binds  up 
the  soil,  and,  being  a  slow  conductor,  prevents  the  seve- 
rity of  the  season  from  injuriously  affecting  the  fibres 
and  roots  of  the  plants  which  Nature  has,  in  general, 
buried  to  a  sufficient  depth  for  their  preservation,  with 


NON-CONDUCTING  POWER  OF   ICE.  309 

the  aid  of  this  wise  provision.  Even  when  the  ice  reaches 
and  envelopes  the  roots,  it  seldom  materially  injures 
them,  because  it  does  not  easily  descend  below  the  freez- 
ing point,  which  is  much  higher  than  the  usual  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  in  northern  winters. 

Here,  again,  we  find  cause  of  pious  admiration.  We 
do  not  expect  a  world  of  perfection ;  but  the  contrary. 
All  climates  have  their  inconveniences  and  evils  :  such 
is  the  condition  of  our  world  ;  but  then  these  disadvanta- 
ges are  always,  in  a  wonderful  manner,  guarded,  limited, 
and  mitigated.  They  proceed  to  a  certain  point ;  but 
there  a  Paternal  Hand  interposes ;  and  the  sentence  is 
pronounced  as  distinctly  as  if  it  were  proclaimed  with 
an  audible  voice,  "Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no 
further."  The  obvious  intention  is  discipline,  and  not 
destruction.  In  tropical  climates,  for  example,  the  heat 
of  a  vertical  sun,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  permitted  to 
accumulate,  by  perpetual  action  on  one  point,  as  it  would 
thus  become  intolerable.  That  great  source  of  light  and 
warmth  is  made  continually  to  traverse  from  tropic  to 
tropic  ;  and  when  his  direct  rays  would  strike  too  fiercely 
in  his  passage  there,  the  clouds  collect  with  their  shade, 
the  rising  winds  fan  the  air,  the  cooling  and  fertilizing 
rains  descend,  and  thus  he  moves  along,  in  his  tempered 
glory,  showering  blessings  from  his  wings  at  the  moment 
when  he  threatened  to  scorch  and  destroy.  And  a  simi- 
lar arrangement  is  observable  with  reference  to  the  oppo- 
site extreme  of  intense  cold.  The  wintry  blast  seems 
calculated  utterly  to  exterminate  both  the  vegetable  and 
animal  creation  ;  but  by  a  series  of  deeply  excogitated 
contrivances,  the  calamity  is  averted,  and  life  and  vigor 
are  preserved  in  the  vegetable  world,  while  comfort  and 
enjoyment  are  communicated  to  every  thing  that  lives. 

How  curious  and  edifying  is  the  analogy  between  the 
works  of  creation  and  the  operations  of  Divine  grace, — 
between  the  revelations  of  the  book  of  Nature  and  of  the 
book  of  Inspiration.  When  the  curse  fell  on  man,  it  was 
mitigated  by  the  promise,  that  "  The  seed  of  the  woman 
should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent ;"  when  the  earth 
was  forbidden  to  yield  him  food,  except  as  the  fruit  of 


310  FROST. AMUSEMENTS 

painful  toil,  that  very  toil  was  converted  into  a  source  of 
pleasure  and  improvement. 

Here  is  compensation ;  but  grace  goes  far  beyond  the 
analogy  of  nature,  for  it  promises  heaven  for  earth, — the 
absolute  and  unalloyed  blessedness  of  immortality,  for 
the  turmoils  and  stinted  enjoyments  of  this  mortal  life. 
When  the  terrestrial  paradise  was  closed  against  man  for 
ever,  his  eye  was  directed,  across  a  rugged  and  gloomy 
wilderness,  and  through  a  swelling  flood,  to  that  bright 
spot  in  the  distant  horizon,where  uthe  wicked  cease  from 
troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest;" where  a  Father's 
hand  wipes  the  tear  from  every  eye  ;  and  where  ujoy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory"  eternally  reigns. 


ELEVENTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

» 

III.  FROST. AMUSEMENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  IT. 

A  GROUP  of  schoolboys  on  the  surface  of  a  frozen 
pond  or  lake,  is  a  most  animated  and  interesting  specta- 
cle. There  is  so  much  evidence  of  real  enjoyment  in 
the  motions,  the  accents,  and  the  countenances  of  the 
various  individuals  who  compose  it,  whether  they  glide 
along  the  ice  on  skates,  or  by  means  of  the  more  humble 
instrumentality  of  wooden  shoes,  fenced  with  iron,  or  of 
a  staff,  armed  with  a  pike,  that  a  spectator,  accustomed 
to  reflection,  cannot  fail  to  recognise,  in  the  happiness 
which  prevails  around  him,  an  evidence  of  a  benevolent 
Creator. 

It  might,  perhaps,  appear  ludicrous,  were  I  to  assert 
that  ice  is  formed  smooth  and  hard,  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  means  of  healthy  and  exhilarating  sport  to  the 
young;  and  I  might  be  reminded,  that  this  is  just  the 
form  which  the  crystallizing  process  takes  in  other  in- 
stances, and  the  natural  result  of  its  laws.  Be  it  so  :  but 
still  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  that  the  youthful  mind  is 


CONNECTED  WITH   IT.  311 

so  framed  as  to  take  pleasure  in  the  exercises  which  the 
smooth  and  level  surface  of  the  ice  affords  ;  and  surely 
we  do  not  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  legitimate  inference, 
when  we  assert,  that  this  is  one  of  the  benevolent  con- 
trivances by  which  the  rigors  of  winter  are  softened, 
whether  the  adaptation  lie  in  the  polished  surface  of  the 
frozen  plain,  or  in  the  buoyancy  of  the  youthful  mind, 
or  in  both.  This  observation  may  be  greatly  extended  ; 
for  there  is  scarcely  any  object  with  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded, that  is  not,  to  the  well-constituted  mind,  a 
source  of  enjoyment.  In  the  young  this  is  more  con- 
spicuous, because  the  pleasurable  feeling  lies  nearer  the 
surface,  and  is  more  easily  excited,  and  expressed  more 
emphatically,  by  outward  signs.  But  it  would  be  a  great 
mistake  to  measure  the  relative  enjoyments  of  childhood 
and  manhood  by  their  external  expression,  or  to  suppose 
that  Nature,  even  in  its  most  familiar  aspects,  does  not 
present  as  many  objects  of  interest,  and  of  agreeable  sen- 
sation, to  those  who  are  in  the  meridian  of  life,  or  even 
verging  towards  the  shades  of  evening,  as  to  those  who 
flutter  in  the  morning  sunshine. 

If  the  ice  afford  the  schoolboy  the  joy  of  gliding  swift- 
ly on  its  smooth  expanse,  it  is  not  niggardly  of  its  amuse- 
ments to  the  more  sedate  minds  of  the  mature  in  age. 
To  every  northern  country,  some  amusement  on  the  ice 
is  familiar  ;  and,  among  these,  that  of  curling  may  be 
mentioned  as  the  game  peculiarly  prized  in  many  districts 
of  Scotland  ;  and  also,  if  I  mistake  not,  in  the  Nether- 
lands ;  from  which  latter  country  it  seems  to  have  been 
originally  derived.  The  amiable  Grahame,  in  his  Brit- 
ish Georgics,  gives  a  graphic  description  of  this  amuse- 
ment, an  extract  from  which  will  not  be  unacceptable. 

*'  Now  rival  parishes  and  shrievedoms,  keep, 
On  upland  lochs,  the  long-expected  tryst,, 
To  play  their  yearly  bonspeil.     Aged  men, 
Smit  with  the  eagerness  of  youth,  are  there, 
While  love  of  conquest  lights  their  beamless  eyes, 
New  nerves  their  arms,  and  makes  them  young  once  more." 

"Keen,  keener  still,  as  life  itself  were  staked, 
Kindles  the  friendly  strife  :  one  points  the  line 


312  FROST. 

To  him  who,  poising,  aims  and  aims  again  ; 
Another  runs,  and  sweeps  where  nothing  lies. 
Success,  alternately,  from  side  to  side, 
Changes  ;  and  quick  the  hours  unnoted  fly, 
Till  light  begins  to  fail,  and  deep  below, 
The  player,  as  he  stoops  to  lift  his  coit, 
Sees,  half  incredulous,  the  rising  moon. 
And  now  the  final,  the  decisive  spell 
Begins  ;  near  and  more  near  the  sounding  stones, 
Some  winding  in,  some  bearing  straight  along, 
Crowd  justling  all  around  the  mark  ;  while  one 
Just  slightly  touching,  victory  depends 
Upon  the  final  aim  :  low  swings  the  stone, 
Then,  with  full  force,  careering  furious  on, 
Rattling  it  strikes  aside  both  friend  and  foe, 
Maintains  its  course,  and  takes  the  victor's  place." 

These  are  but  single  instances  of  the  means  of  enjoy- 
ment, which  brighten  the  gloom  of  winter.  The  benevo- 
lent Parent  of  Nature  enables  the  human  mind  to  find  a 
source  of  pleasure,  as  I  have  said,  almost  in  every  thing. 
Who  has  not  felt  his  heart  expand  with  an  undefinable 
delight,  when  he  has  beheld  the  fantastic  forms  into  which, 
during  severe  weather,  the  frozen  spray  or  drippings  of 
a  cascade  throw  themselves,  and  when  he  has  given  loose 
reins  to  his  fancy,  in  tracing  crystal  grottos,  and  temples, 
and  spires,  in  the  endless,  but  always  elegant  varieties  of 
the  architecture  which  the  wizard  Frost  had  reared  ?  The 
very  icicles  dependent  from  the  eaves  of  the  houses,  as 
they  glance  in  the  morning  sun,  are  not  beheld  without  a 
pleasing  emotion  ;  and  a  higher  gratification  to  the  taste 
is  afforded  in  contemplating  the  white  expanse  of  the 
snow  as  it  spreads  its  bright  and  colorless  carpet  over 
the  fields,  and  lies  thick  on  the  bending  hedges  and  trees, 
while,  at  the  horizon,  the  cold  marble  outline  of  the  dis- 
tant hills,  swelling  in  the  softened  light,  is  finely  contrast- 
ed with  the  dark  blue  of  the  serene  and  cloudless  sky. 
Mr.  Abbott,  a  pleasing  and  amiable  American  writer, 
has  touched,  very  beautifully,  on  the  ''thousand  ingenious 
contrivances,"  as  he  calls  them,  which  u  God  has  planned 
and  executed  to  make  men  happy,"  and  he  alludes,  among 
other  things,  to  the  enjoyments  of  winter,  in  a  few  sen- 
tences, which  will  form  an  appropriate  conclusion  to  this 
paper. 


WINTER  NOT  MONOTONOUS.  313 

u  You  can  give  no  reason,"  says  he,  u  why  the  heart 
of  a  child  is  filled  with  such  joyous  glee,  when  the  first 
snow-flakes  descend.  There  is  no  very  special  beauty 
in  the  sight ;  and  there  are  no  very-well-defined  hopes 
of  slides  or  rides,  to  awaken  such  joy.  At  fifty,  the  glad- 
ness is  not  expressed  so  unequivocally  ;  but  yet,  when 
the  gravest  philosopher  rides  through  a  wood,  whose 
boughs  are  loaded  with  the  snow,  and  whose  tops  bend  over 
with  the  burden,  and  looks  upon  the  footsteps  of  the  rab- 
bit, who  has  leaped  along  over  the  ground,  he  feels  the 
same  pleasure,  though  he  indicates  it  by  riding  on  in 
silent  musing,  instead  of  uttering  exclamations  of  delight. 
Can  you  explain  this  pleasure  ?  Is  there  any  describable 
pleasure  in  a  great  expanse  of  white  ?  Is  the  form  of  the 
trees,  or  the  beauty  of  their  foliage,  improved  by  their 
snowy  mantle  ?  No  !  The  explanation  is,  that  God,  who 
formed  the  laws  of  nature,  formed  also  the  human  heart ; 
and  has  so  adapted  the  one  to  the  other,  as  to  promote, 
in  every  variety  of  mode,  the  enjoyment  of  the  beings  he 
has  made.  There  is  no  end  to  the  kinds  of  enjoyment 
which  God  has  thus  opened  to  us  every  where.  They 
are  too  numerous  to  be  named  ;  and  no  intellectual  phi- 
losopher has  ever  undertaken  the  hopeless  task  of  arrang- 
ing them."* 


TWELFTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

WINTER    NOT    MONOTONOUS. BOUNDLESS     VARIETY    OF    NA- 
TURE. 

THE  winter  landscape  has  been  accused  of  monotony  ; 
and  certainly  all  nature  has  at  this  season  a  less  animated 
and  varied  aspect  than  at  any  other.  Unless  when  sprin- 
kled over  with  hoar-frost,  or  covered  with  a  cold  mantle 
of  snow,  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  of  a  bleak  and  faded 

*The  Way  to  Do  Good,  p.  68. 
I.  27  vii. 


314  WINTER  NOT  MONOTONOUS. 

hue.  The  woods  have  long  lost  the  variegated  foliage, 
that  had  previously  ceased  to  be  their  ornament ;  and  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  with  their  "naked  shoots,  barren 
as  lances,"  present  one  uniform  appearance  of  death  and 
decay.  The  howling  of  the  long-continued  storm,  and 
the  few  faint  bird-notes  heard  at  intervals  in  the  thickets 
or  hedges,  are  monotonously  mournful.  The  devastation 
of  the  earth,  and  the  sounds  that  seem  to  bewail  it,  are 
general  and  unvaried.  A  few  hardy  plants  and  flowers, 
indeed,  begin  to  swell  their  buds  and  expand  their  petals  ; 
but  the  thick  cerements  which  envelope  the  one  class, 
and  the  pale  and  sombre  hue  of  the  other,  equally  pro- 
claim to  the  querulous  mind  the  ungenial  climate. 

Such,  at  a  cursory  glance,  appear  to  be  the  aspect  and 
tone  of  our  winter  scenery.  But  the  keenly  observant 
eye  discovers,  even  at  this  desolate  season,  and  in  the 
midst  of  seeming  monotony,  that  endless  variety  which 
characterizes  every  province  of  creation.  On  close  in- 
spection, indeed,  all  we  behold  is  varied.  Whatever  be 
the  season,  and  wherever  lie  the  scene  of  our  observa- 
tion, though  many  things  are  apparently  similar,  yet  none 
are  exactly  or  really  so.  At  certain  times  and  places, 
the  mutual  resemblances  between  all  the  common  objects 
of  sense,  all  that  solicits  the  eye  or  the  ear  in  the  land- 
scape, may  be  so  numerous  and  striking,  as  to  produce  a 
feeling  of  monotony  ;  groups  of  mournful  sights  and 
sounds  may,  in  the  dead  of  the  year,  successively  impress 
us  with  a  sense  of  melancholy,  and  incline  us  to  set  a 
limit  to  the  usual  prodigality  of  Nature  ;  but  yet  true  wis- 
dom, aided  by  quick  and  active  observation,  easily  draws 
the  dull  veil  of  uniformity  aside,  and  reveals  to  the  admir- 
ing eye,  boundless  diversity,  even  in  the  ravaged  and 
gloomy  scenery  of  winter. 

Are  the  woods  so  uniformly  dead,  as,  on  a  first  survey, 
they  appear  ?  The  oak,  the  ash,  the  beech,  and  most 
of  our  forest  trees  have  lost  their  varied  foliage  ;  but,  with 
the  exception  of  the  larch,  the  numerous  varieties  of  the 
fir  and  the  pine,  retain  their  leaves,  and  variegate  the  dis- 
robed grove  with  their  unfading  verdure.  In  the  wood- 
land copse,  or  lonely  dell,  the  beautiful  holly  still  glad- 


WINTER  NOT  MONOTONOUS.  315 

dens  the  eye  with  its  shining  and  dark-green  leaves.  Nor 
are  our  shrubberies  without  their  living  green.  The  lau- 
rel and  the  bay  defy  the  blasts  of  winter,  and  continue 
to  shelter  and  beautify  our  dwellings.  The  flowers  have 
not  all  vanished.  One  of  the  fairest,  and  seemingly  one 
of  the  most  delicate  of  them  all,  the  Christmas  rose, 
spots  the  garden  or  shrubbery  with  its  bloom,  unhurt  by 
the  chilling  influences  of  the  season.  Before  the  severi- 
ty of  winter  is  over,  the  snowdrop  emerges  from  the  re- 
viving turf,  the  lovely  and  venturous  herald  of  a  coming 
host.  Thus,  in  the  period  of  frost,  and  snow,  and  vege- 
table death,  the  beauty  of  flowers  is  not  unknown  ;  but 
rather  what  survives  or  braves  the  desolating  storm,  is 
doubly  enhanced  to  our  eyes  by  the  surrounding  dreari- 
ness and  decay. 

And  are  the  atmospherical  phenomena  of  this  season 
monotonous  or  uninteresting  ?  Independently  of  the 
striking  contrast  they  present  to  those  of  summer  and 
autumn,  they  are  of  themselves  grandly  diversified .  The 
dark  and  rainy  storm  careers  over  the  face  of  the  earth, 
till  the  flooded  rivers  overflow  their  banks,  and  the  forest 
roars  like  a  tempestuous  sea.  The  hoar-frost  spangles 
the  ground  with  a  white  and  brilliant  incrustation,  or  the 
snow,  falling  softly,  covers  the  wide  expanse  of  mountain, 
and  wood,  and  plain,  with  a  mantle  of  dazzling  purity. 
Then  the  dark  branches  of  the  trees,  bending  under  a 
load  of  white  and  feathery  flakes,  have  a  picturesque  as- 
pect, and  seem  to  rejoice  in  the  substitute  for  their  lost 
foliage.  And  how  fantastically  beautiful  are  the  effects 
of  frost !  Water  is  transmuted  into  solid  forms,  of  a 
thousand  different  shapes.  The  lake,  and  even  the  river 
itself,  becomes  a  crystal  floor,  and  the  drops  of  the 
house-eaves  collect  into  rows  of  icicles  of  varying  di- 
mensions, differently  reflecting  and  refracting  the  rays  of 
the  mid-day  sun.  The  earth  is  bound  in  magical  fetters, 
and  rings  beneath  the  tread.  The  air  is  pure  and  keen, 
yet  not  insufferably  cold.  Calm  and  clear  frosty  days, 
succeeded  by  nights  that  unveil  the  full  glory  of  the  star- 
ry firmament,  are  intermingled  with  magnificent  tem- 
pests, that  sweep  over  the  land  and  sea,  and  make  the 


316       BOUNDLESS  VARIETY  OF  NATURE. 

grandest  music  to  the  ear  that  is  attuned  to  the  harmonies 
of  Nature. 

Variety  seems  to  be  a  universal  attribute  of  creation. 
It  is  stamped  upon  the  heavens,  the  earth,  and  the  sea. 
The  stars  are  all  glorious  ;  but  u  one  star  differeth  from 
another  star  in  glory,"  The  sun  eclipses  them  all ;  and 
the  moon  reigns  among  them  like  their  queen.  The 
earth  is  covered  with  numberless  mountains  and  hills, 
thick  as  waves  on  the  ocean,  and  more  wonderfully  di- 
versified. From  the  tiny  hillock  to  the  cloud-piercing 
peak,  no  two  eminences  are  wholly  alike  in  shape,  or 
size,  or  in  any  single  quality.  What  valley  or  plain, 
what  tree,  or  flower,  or  leaf,  or  blade  of  grass,  is,  in  all 
points,  similar  to  another  ?  Search  the  whole  world, 
and  you  will  find  no  pair  of  any  of  these  created  things 
exact  counterparts  to  each  other,  in  regard  to  weight, 
color,  structure,  figure,  or  any  other  essential  or  acci- 
dental property.  The  animal  world  is  as  endlessly  diver- 
sified. Not  only  is  the  distinction  between  the  various 
genera  and  species  wide  and  impassable,  but  between  the 
individuals  of  each  species,  no  perfect  similarity  exists. 
Twins  are  commonly  most  like  each  other  ;  but  yet  they 
who  know  them  intimately,  are  at  no  loss  to  distinguish 
between  them.  Even  when  we  take  two  parts,  however 
apparently  alike,  or  two  individuals  of  the  same  species, 
we  find  the  same  diversity.  The  variety  observable  in 
the  human  countenance  has  long  been  a  matter  of  remark 
and  admiration.  The  general  features  are  the  same  in 
all ;  but  their  color,  their  relative  size,  and  numerous 
other  particularities,  are  curiously  different.  Hence  we 
can  at  once  recognise  an  individual  among  a  thousand, 
even  when  they  are  of  the  same  stature  and  complexion 
with  himself. 

The  diversity  of  color  is  truly  astonishing,  and  is  the 
source  of  much  beauty  and  enjoyment.  Though  the 
primary  colors  are  only  seven,  yet  these  are  so  mixed 
and  blended  over  all  nature,  as  to  delight  the  eye  with 
thousands  of  different  hues,  of  all  degrees  of  depth  and 
brilliancy.  Let  us  look  at  a  bed  of  blowing  summer 
flowers,  and  behold  the  ravishing  wonders  of  color. 


BOUNDLESS   VARIETY   OF  NATURE.  317 

The  unstained  silvery  whiteness  of  the  lily,  the  deep 
crimson  of  the  rose,  the  dark  and  velvety  blue  of  the  vi- 
olet, the  bright  yellow  of  the  wallflower  and  the  marigold, 
are  but  specimens  of  the  rich  and  gorgeous  hues  that 
delight  us  with  a  sense  of  beauty  and  variety.  The 
fields  and  lawns,  with  their  bright  green,  spotted  with 
white  clover  and  crimson-tipped  daisies ;  the  meadows, 
with  their  butter-cups,  and  all  their  peculiar  flowers  ; 
the  woods,  with  their  fresh  spring  verdure,  and  their  flam- 
ing autumnal  robes  ;  and  the  mountains,  at  one  time  bath- 
ed in  a  deep  azure,  at  another  shining  with  golden  sunlight, 
all  exhibit  the  marvellously  varied  touches  of  that  pencil 
which  none  but  the  Omnipotent  can  wield. 

This  universal  variety  is  not  merely  a  display  of  In- 
finite Skill,  but  is  equally  beautiful,  pleasing,  and  useful. 
It  adds  immensely  to  our  enjoyment  of  nature,  and  great- 
ly enhances  our  idea  of  God's  creative  attributes.  It 
furnishes  us  with  the  means  of  discrimination,  without 
which  the  earth  would  be  to  us  a  scene  of  confusion. 
Were  there  only  one  color,  and  were  every  mountain, 
for  example,  of  the  same  shape,  or  every  shrub  and  tree 
of  the  same  size,  how  dull  and  monotonous  would  be 
every  landscape  !  And,  if  every  human  face  were  ex- 
actly alike,  how  should  we  be  able  to  distinguish  a  friend 
from  an  enemy,  a  neighbor  from  a  stranger,  a  country- 
man from  a  foreigner  ?  Or,  to  take  an  example  still 
more  impressive,  were  the  powers  and  passions  of  every 
individual  mind  in  every  respect  similar,  that  diversity  of 
character  and  pursuit  which  constitutes  the  mainspring 
of  society  and  civilization,  would  not  be  found.  In  all 
this,  there  is  adaptation  and  wise  design. 

Thus,  amidst  apparent  uniformity,  the  necessary  vari- 
ety every  where  obtains.  Nor  does  this  variety  ever  run 
to  excess.  Utter  dissimilarity  is  as  rare  as  complete  re- 
semblance. All  things  are  beautifully  and  usefully  vari- 
ed ;  but  they  also  all  wear  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
same  Great  Artist,  and  can  all  be  arranged  into  classes, 
the  individuals  of  which  bear  to  one  another  the  most  cu- 
rious and  intimate  resemblances.  There  is  in  nature  a 
uniformity  that  is  as  beneficial  as  variety  itself.  The 
27* 


318       BOUNDLESS  VARIETY  OF  NATURE. 

leaves,  flowers,  and  fruits  of  a  tree  or  shrub,  though  as- 
tonishingly varied  in  their  figure  and  appearance,  are  yet 
all  so  much  alike,  that  they  can  easily  be  referred  to  their 
parent  species.  Of  all  the  animals  of  a  kind, each  has  its 
peculiarities  ;  but  every  individual  can  at  once  be  recog- 
nised by  the  naturalist's  practised  eye.  Thus  has  the 
Author  of  all  things  so  blended  variety  and  uniformity  to- 
gether, as  to  delight,  yet  not  bewilder  us,  with  exhaust- 
less  novelty  ;  to  enable  us  to  class  His  works  into  great 
groups  of  genera  and  species,  and  thereby  to  exercise 
our  powers  of  reason  and  observation,  in  tracing  the  deli- 
cate resemblances  and  disagreements  that  meet  us  in  all 
our  inquiries.  In  the  classification  of  these  resemblances 
and  disagreements,  philosophy  is  mainly  employed ;  and 
but  for  them,  the  active  and  inquiring  mind  of  man  would 
find  no  motive  for  the  exertion  of  its  loftier  powers. 
We  live  and  move  in  a  world  of  inanimate  substances, 
infinitely  diversified  in  form,  color,  and  chemical  proper- 
ties, and  intermingled  with  organic  structures  that  ascend 
from  the  extreme  of  simplicity  to  all  that  is  wonderful 
and  complex  in  contrivance,  and  that  possess  almost  every 
conceivable  diversity  in  their  essential  qualities  as  well 
as  their  modes  of  existence  ;  and  to  bring  order  out  of 
this  seeming  confusion  ;  to  observe,  to  generalize,  and 
to  classify ;  to  note  the  limitless  variety  of  created 
things,  and  yet  to  discover  the  Divine  harmony  that  per- 
vades them  all,  is  the  noble  province  of  the  philosopher, 
and  even  of  the  humblest  lover  of  Nature,  who  would 
enjoy  aright  the  objects  of  his  love,  and  adore  with  due 
intelligence  the  great  Author  and  End  of  all. 

O  Lord  !  every  quality  of  Thy  works  is  the  result  of 
Infinite  Wisdom.  The  grand  diversities  of  the  seasons, 
with  all  their  distinguishing  characteristics,  the  beauti- 
ful harmony,  and  unlimited  variety  of  nature,  alike 
evince  Thy  goodness,  and  demand  the  cheerful  gratitude 
of  man.  J.  B. 


FROST.  319 


TWELFTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

IV.  FROST. EFFECTS  OF  IT  IN  THE    NORTHERN    REGIONS. 

IN  passing  from  our  own  temperate  climate,  to  higher 
latitudes,  the  rigors  of  winter  are  exhibited  in  a  more 
unmitigated  form,  and  the  injurious  effects  of  cold  be- 
come more  apparent.  A  slight  sketch  of  the  state  of 
these  regions,  in  relation  to  the  phenomena  of  frost,  may 
not  be  uninteresting. 

Many  of  our  readers  are  rendered  familiar  with  the 
appearances  of  nature  in  the  northern  regions,  by  a  pe- 
rusal of  the  writings  of  our  modern  voyagers.  From 
these,  some  facts  have  already  been  selected,  relative  to 
the  state  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  worlds,  in  the 
countries  they  visited  ;  but,  in  the  description  of  the  in- 
fluence of  frost  in  that  dreary  climate,  I  prefer  having 
recourse  to  an  author  less  generally  known.  Captain 
Middleton  gives  a  graphic  and  minute  account  of  the 
effects  of  cold  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
during  winter,  which  is  applicable,  but  with  considerable 
aggravation,  to  the  state  of  places  still  nearer  the  pole, 
where  a  dreary  uniformity  reigns.  I  shall  abridge  this 
narrative,  so  as  to  afford  a  condensed  view  of  the  subject, 
in  its  most  striking  features. 

The  ground  was  frozen,  even  in  summer,  to  the  great- 
est depth  that  had  been  penetrated,  which,  however,  was 
not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  feet.  No  unfrozen  spring 
of  water  could  be  found  ;  and  the  lakes  and  rivers  be- 
came, in  winter,  one  solid  cake  of  ice,  fixed  to  the  ground, 
when  they  did  not  exceed  the  depth  of  twelve  feet.  In 
large  lakes  and  rivers,  the  ice  was  sometimes  broken  by 
<c  imprisoned  vapors,"  and  the  rocks  and  trees,  and  even 
the  joists  and  rafters  of  their  buildings  were  not  unfre- 
quently  burst  with  a  noise  as  loud  as  the  firing  of  a  broad- 
side by  a  man-of-war.  If  beer  or  water  was  left  by  the 


320  FROST. 

bedside,  in  cans,  or  bottles,  or  even  in  copper  pots,  in 
a  severe  night,  they  were  sure  to  be  split  in  pieces  be- 
fore morning,  by  the  expansive  power  of  the  ice  in 
freezing.  The  air  was  filled  with  innumerable  particles 
of  ice,  very  sharp  and  angular,  and  plainly  perceptible  to 
the  naked  eye.  All  inland  waters  were  frozen  fast  by 
the  beginning  of  October,  and  continued  so  till  the  be- 
ginning of  May.  Coronas  and  parhelia,  that  is,  halos 
and  mock  suns,  were  frequently  observed.  The  aurora 
borealis  was  seen  almost  nightly.  It  shone  with  a  sur- 
prising brightness,  darkening  all  the  stars  and  planets, 
and  covering  the  whole  hemisphere  with  a  beautiful  tremu- 
lous lustre.  Seaward,  the  immense  icebergs  which 
crowded  the  scene,  added  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the 
prospect.  Some  of  these  immense  aggregations  of  ice 
are  said  to  have  been  immersed  a  hundred  fathoms*  be- 
low the  water,  while  they  towered  nearly  a  hundred  feet 
above  its  surface,  and  extended  in  circumference  to  three 
or  four  miles. 

The  following  amusing  account  is  given  of  the  clothing 
with  which  Captain  Middleton  and  his  companions  de- 
fended themselves  from  the  intense  cold.  "  For  our 
winter  dress,  we  make  use  of  three  pairs  of  socks,  of 
coarse  blanketing  or  frieze,  for  the  feet,  with  a  pair  of 
deer-skin  shoes  over  them  ;  two  pairs  of  thick  English 
stockings,  and  a  pair  of  cloth  stockings  upon  them  ; 
breeches  lined  with  flannel  ;  two  or  three  English  jack- 
ets, and  a  fur  or  leathern  gown  over  them  ;  a  large  bea- 
ver cap,  double,  to  come  over  the  face  and  shoulders  ; 
and  a  cloth  of  blanketing  over  the  chin  ;  with  yarn  gloves, 
and  a  large  pair  of  beaver  mittens,  hanging  down  from  the 
shoulders  before,  to  put  our  hands  in,  which  reach  up  as 
high  as  our  elbows." 

I  shall  conclude  this  description  of  the  rigors  of  a 
northern  climate,  with  the  interesting  account  given  of 
a  ground-swell  in  the  ice,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Lab- 
rador, in  Dr.  Brown's  '  History  of  the  Propagation  of 
Christianity.'  A  party  of  Moravian  missionaries  were 

*  This  is  probably  an  exaggeration. 


ITS   EFFECTS   IN  NORTHERN  REGIONS.  321 

engaged  in  passing  across  an  arm  of  the  sea,  on  sledges 
drawn  by  dogs.  The  first  alarm  was  given  by  some 
passing  Esquimaux,  and  afterwards  by  their  owTn  atten- 
dants ;  but  the  approach  of  danger  was  at  first  scarcely 
perceptible,  except  on  lying  down,  and  applying  the  ear 
close  to  the  ice,  when  a  hollow  grating  noise  was  heard 
ascending  from  the  abyss.  By  and  by  the  wind  rose  to 
a  storm,  and  the  swell  had  increased  so  much,  that  its 
effects  on  the  ice  were  extraordinary,  and  really  alarm- 
ing. u  The  sledges,  instead  of  gliding  smoothly  along, 
as  on  an  even  surface,  sometimes  ran  with  violence  after 
the  dogs,  and  sometimes  seemed  with  difficulty  to  ascend 
a  rising  hill.  Noises,  too,  were  now  distinctly  heard,  in 
many  directions,  like  the  report  of  cannon,  from  the 
bursting  of  the  ice  at  a  distance.  Alarmed  by  these 
frightful  phenomena,  our  travellers  drove  with  all  haste 
towards  the  shore  ;  and,  as  they  approached  it,  the  pros- 
pect before  them  was  tremendous.  The  ice,  having  burst 
loose  from  the  rocks,  was  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  broken 
in  a  thousand  pieces  against  precipices,  with  a  dreadful 
noise  ;  which,  added  to  the  raging  of  the  sea,  the  roar- 
ing of  the  wind,  and  the  driving  of  the  snow,  so  com- 
pletely overpowered  them,  as  almost  to  deprive  them  of 
the  use  both  of  their  eyes  and  ears.  To  make  the  land 
was  now  the  only  resource  that  remained  ;  but  it  was 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  the  frightened  dogs  could 
be  driven  forward  ;  and,  as  the  whole  body  of  the  ice 
frequently  sank  below  the  summits  of  the  rocks,  and  then 
rose  above  them,  the  only  time  for  landing  was  the  mo- 
ment it  gained  the  level  of  the  coast — a  circumstance 
which  rendered  the  attempt  extremely  nice  and  hazard- 
ous. Both  sledges,  however,  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
shore,  though  not  without  great  difficulty.  Scarcely  had 
they  reached  it,  when  that  part  of  the  ice  from  which 
they  had  just  escaped,  burst  asunder,  and  the  water, 
rushing  up  from  beneath,  instantly  precipitated  it  into 
the  ocean.  In  a  moment,  as  if  by  a  signal,  the  whole 
mass  of  ice,  for  several  miles  along  the  coast,  and  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  began  to  break 
and  to  be  overwhelmed  by  the  waves.  The  spectacle 


322  FROST. 

was  awfully  grand.  The  immense  fields  of  ice,  rising 
out  of  the  ocean,  clashing  against  one  another,  and  then 
plunging  into  the  deep  with  a  violence  which  no  language 
can  describe,  and  a  noise  like  the  discharge  of  a  thousand 
cannon,  was  a  sight  which  must  have  struck  the  most  un- 
reflecting mind  with  solemn  awe.  The  brethren  were 
overwhelmed  with  amazement  at  their  miraculous  escape  ; 
and  even  the  pagan  Esquimaux  expressed  gratitude  to 
God  for  their  deliverance."* 


TWELFTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

V.  FROST. ITS  AGENCY  IN  MOUNTAINOUS  REGIONS. 

I  HAVE  already  mentioned,  that  water  suddenly  ex- 
pands in  the  process  of  freezing  ;  now  the  force  with 
which  the  expansion  takes  place  is  immense,  as  has  been 
proved  by  various  experiments.  The  barrel  of  a  gun, 
and  even  the  body  of  the  strongest  cannon,  when  filled 
to  the  muzzle  with  water,  and  tightly  screwed  up,  have 
been  found  to  burst  under  this  process  in  a  hard  frost ; 
and,  indeed,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  known 
power  in  the  material  world  strong  enough  to  resist  it. 
This  property  seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  active  agents 
in  breaking  down  rocks  and  diminishing  the  height  of 
mountain  ranges,  particularly  in  regions  distant  from  the 
equator.  The  water  which  penetrates  the  fissures  of  the 
rocks  during  the  early  part  of  the  winter,  is  converted 
into  ice,  and,  by  the  sudden  expansion  which  then  takes 
place,  rends  the  solid  rocks  asunder,  with  a  noise  which 
is  heard  at  the  distance  of  many  miles ;  and,  where  the 
surface  happens  to  be  precipitous,  and  the  equilibrium  is 
destroyed,  the  detached  masses,  on  the  melting  of  the 
ice,  by  the  return  of  spring,  fall  over  with  a  tremendous 

*  Brown's  History  of  the  Propagation  of  Christianity  among  the  Hea- 
then, vol.  ii.  p.  51. 


ITS   AGENCY  IN  MOUNTAINOUS   REGIONS.          323 

crash,  and,  in  the  fearful  avalanche,  sometimes  over- 
whelm whole  villages  and  fields,  carrying  sudden  and 
inevitable  destruction  to  their  inhabitants. 

Most  distressing  occurrences  from  this  cause  take  place 
every  year  in  those  lofty  and  rugged  districts  where  Na- 
ture has  formed  so  strong  a  barrier  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  hostile  armies,  and  where  freedom  so  long 
maintained  her  throne,  and  religion  her  purity  and  inde- 
pendence, in  the  midst  of  enslaved  and  degraded  king- 
doms. In  the  narrow  valleys  of  the  Swiss  Cantons,  and 
along  the  ravines  formed  by  those  tributary  streams  which 
supply  the  ample  currents  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Rhone, 
winter  has  terrors  altogether  unknown  to  the  inhabitants 
of  less  Alpine  territories.  Sometimes  an  avalanche  blocks 
up  the  channel  between  two  mountains,  till  the  accumu- 
lated waters  of  weeks  or  months  force  for  themselves  a  pas- 
sage, and,  rushing  forward  with  a  tremendous  flood,  carry 
far-spread  inundation  and  death  over  the  smiling  and  well- 
peopled  valleys  below.  In  other  places,  year  after  year, 
on  the  breaking  up  of  the  winter  storms,  rocks  and  stones, 
rolling  down  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  gradually  but 
surely  overwhelm  whole  districts,  which  the  industry  of 
man  had  rendered  fertile,  and  cause  them  to  be  abandoned 
to  the  eagle,  the  marmot,  and  the  chamois.  These  en- 
croachments are  fearful,  while  others,  of  a  description 
scarcely  less  formidable,  occur  in  different  situations 
of  the  same  interesting  ranges.  Not  unfrequently,  the 
majestic  glacier,  undermined  by  some  mountain  stream, 
or  rendered  unstable  by  the  accumulating  snows  and  frosts 
of  ages,  gives  way  in  an  instant,  and,  toppling  over  from 
its  giddy  height,  tumbles  headlong  to  the  lower  grounds ; 
not  only  bearing  extensive  destruction  in  its  fall,  but  chil- 
ling, for  many  years,  the  climate  of  all  the  surrounding 
district  with  its  wintry  breath. 

Such  calamitous  events  remind  us,  that  we  live  in  a 
world,  among  the  conditions  of  which  are  desolation  and 
suffering  ;  and  they  carry  our  thoughts  upward  to  that 
happy  land  where  there  is  no  death,  no  calamity,  no 
change  ;  where  trials  are  past,  and  tears  are  wiped  away  ; 
and  where  the  dark  valley,  and  the  narrow  path,  have 


324  FROST. 

ended  in  a  boundless  and  glowing  paradise  of  eternal 
sunshine  and  unfading  bloom. 

In  one  point  of  view,  the  events  I  have  adverted  to, 
are  of  importance  in  the  controversy  with  him  who  dreams 
of  the  eternity  of  matter,  and  an  eternal  succession  of 
uncreated  beings.  The  process  of  decay  which  is  so 
actively  going  on  in  our  mountain  ranges,  is  an  undeniable 
proof  of  the  comparatively  recent  formation  of  these 
rugged  elevations,  and,  by  a  necessary  consequence,  of 
the  present  surface  of  the  globe,  of  which  they  form  so 
extensive  and  so  essential  a  feature.  It  is  impossible 
that  they  could  have  existed  from  eternity,  or  even  for 
any  period  to  which  the  power  of  calculation  cannot 
easily  extend.  Had  the  earth  endured  without  disrup- 
tion for  a  million  of  years,  for  example,  long  ere  now  the 
power  of  frost,  and  other  causes  of  decay,  would  have 
crumbled  to  dust  the  hardest  projecting  rocks,  levelled 
the  highest  mountains,  and  reduced  the  whole  surface 
of  the  globe  to  a  marshy  and  unwholesome  plain.  Our 
world  has  neither  existed  from  eternity,  nor  is  it  formed 
for  eternal  existence.  While  the  frost  rends  asunder 
matter  subjected  to  its  influence,  the  air  decomposes  it, 
the  storm  scatters  it,  the  rain  washes  it  away,  rivers  and 
overwhelming  torrents  carry  it  to  the  valleys  and  the 
ocean ;  the  formation  of  downs,  the  fall  of  forests,  and 
the  decay  of  vegetation,  are  continually  altering  the  rela- 
tive depth  of  the  low  grounds  by  their  accumulations. 
"  Ages  on  ages  might  indeed  pass  away  before  these 
agents  could  produce  their  extreme  effects,  yet  that  their 
action  is  neither  inconsiderable  nor  very  slow,  innumera- 
ble observations  have  rendered  incontestable."* 

Now,  long  before  the  earth  had  arrived  at  the  point  to 
which  it  is  so  evidently  tending,  the  fall  of  the  moun- 
tains would  render  it  a  comfortless  and  noxious  habitation. 
Our  springs  and  rivers  would  be  absorbed  and  disappear 
in  fetid  swamps  ;  the  winds  and  rains,  on  which  moun- 
tainous districts  produce  such  salutary  effects,  would 
cease  to  be  equably  dispersed ;  in  one  extensive  region, 

*  Bushnan's  Study  of  Nature. 


FOLIATIONS   ON  WINDOW-GLASS.  325 

the  stagnant  atmosphere,  loaded  with  poisonous  vapors, 
would  spread  pestilence  and  death ;  and  in  another, 
winds,  blowing  continually  and  violently  from  one  point 
of  the  compass,  would  shed  a  blight  over  both  the  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  world.  The  wide-spread  and  desolate 
Steppes  of  Russia,  in  short,  where  nothing  is  seen  on 
every  side  but  a  cheerless  and  level  waste,  and  where, 
from  horizon  to  horizon,  a  deathlike  silence  reigns, 
would  be  but  a  faint  picture  of  the  miserable  scene, 
which  a  decayed  world  would  present  to  its  last  sickly 
and  dying  inhabitants. 

But  the  earth  is  not  destined  to  arrive  at  this  state  of 
feeble  and  decrepit  age.  Thousands  of  centuries  before 
that  period  would  arrive,  its  task  will  be  accomplished, 
and  its  race  run  ;  for  the  irreversible  decree  of  the  Creator 
is,  that,  at  no  distant  period,  uthe  heavens,  being  on  fire, 
shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
heat;"  "  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein, 
shall  be  burnt  up."  Yet  how  cheering  is  the  promise 
with  which  that  decree  is  accompanied, — that  there  shall 
be  the  creation  or  developement  of  "  new  heavens,  and 
a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  ;"  and  how 
appropriate  is  the  exhortation  of  the  apostle,  "  Where- 
fore, beloved,  seeing  that  ye  look  for  such  things,  be 
diligent,  that  ye  may  be  found  of  Him  in  peace,  with- 
out spot  and  blameless." 


TWELFTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

VI.  HOAR-FROST. FOLIATIONS  ON  WINDOW-GLASS. 

THERE  are  some  beautiful  appearances  which  frost 
frequently  Assumes,  to  cheer  us,  as  it  were,  and  give  an 
agreeable  exercise  to  our  taste,  in  the  absence  of  that 
loveliness,  which  the  hand  of  an  indulgent  Creator  sheds 
so  profusely  over  our  fields  and  gardens,  in  the  genial 
i.  28  vn. 


326  HOAR-FROST. 

months  of  spring  and  summer.  I  have  already  noticed 
the  fantastic  forms  which  ice  assumes  at  a  waterfall,  and 
the  pleasure  which  arises  in  the  mind,  on  contemplating 
the  loaded  woods,  and  the  undulating  surface  of  the  earth, 
after  a  fall  of  snow.  Nature  is  almost  always  either 
grand  or  elegant  ;  and,  when  it  is  otherwise,  the  very 
contrast  is  a  source  of  enjoyment.  In  other  words,  the 
mind  is  so  constituted  as  to  derive  pleasure  from  all  the 
aspects  of  the  external  world.  But  there  are  some  things 
better  adapted  than  others  to  afford  gratification  to  the 
taste  ;  and,  when  I  mention  hoar-frost,  a  thousand  agree- 
able recollections  will  arise  in  every  mind.  This  appear- 
ance is  occasioned  by  the  freezing  of  the  mist  or  dew,* 
and  seems  to  be  the  result  of  a  process  similar  to  that 
by  which  snow  is  formed  in  the  higher  regions  of  the 
atmosphere.  There  is  this  difference,  however,  that  the 
snow  is  formed  from  the  rain-drops  or  humid  clouds 
suspended  in  the  air,  without  any  solid  nucleus  to  which 
they  can  adhere  ;  while  the  hoar-frost  is  usually  elabor- 
ated on  the  blades  of  grass,  or  branches  of  trees,  or  other 
substances  with  which  the  moist  particles  come  in  con- 
tact. It  is  a  wellknown  law,  that  water  does  not  readily 
freeze,  unless  it  have  some  solid  substance  on  which  it 
can  form.  It  is  on  this  account  that,  in  a  pond  or  lake, 
we  always  see  the  first  appearance  of  ice  either  along  its 
margin,  or  shooting  out  in  long  beautiful  feathers  from 
some  random  stick  or  stone  projecting  on  its  smooth  sur- 
face. In  obedience  to  the  same  law,  the  watery  particles 
floating  in  the  air,  after  being  exhaled  from  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  although  they  are  at,  or  even  below,  the 
freezing  point,  retain  their  fluid  state  when  the  frost  is 

*  The  phenomena  of  dew,  and  of  hoar-frost,  when  it  arises  from  dew, 
are  owing  to  the  radiation  of  caloric  from  the  surface  of  the  earth,  with- 
out any  interchange  from  the  sky.  "  The  caloric  radiated  during  the 
night,"  says  Mrs.  Somerville,  "  by  substances  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  into  a  clear  expanse  of  sky,  is  lost,  and  no  return  is  made  from 
the  blue  vault,  so  that  their  temperature  sinks  below  that  of  the  air, 
whence  they  abstract  a  part  of  that  caloric  which  holds  the  atmospheric 
humidity  in  solution,  and  a  deposition  of  dew  takes  place.  If  the  ra- 
diation be  great,  the  dew  is  frozen,  and  becomes  hoar-frost,  which  is 
the  ice  of  dew." 


FOLIATIONS    ON   WINDOW-GLASS.  327 

not  very  intense,  till  they  meet  with  something  solid, 
when  they  instantly  become  crystallized,  and  are  depos- 
ited on  the  trees,  the  hedges,  and  the  spreading  mead- 
ows, in  those  elegant  forms  which  so  far  excel  the  frost- 
work of  art.  This  happens  frequently  in  an  atmosphere 
entirely  clear  ;  and  indeed  a  cloudless  sky  is  essential  to 
that  rapid  evaporation  from  the  earth's  surface,  which 
gives  rise  to  an  abundant  dew  ;  but  we  often  observe  the 
hoar-frost  also  produced  by  a  dense  haze,  which  broods 
over  the  surface  of  the  low  grounds,  during  the  night, 
in  the  form  of  a  sluggish  cloud,  and  which  is  dissipated 
by  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun.  In  this  latter  case, 
the  snowy  incrustation  is  thicker  and  more  general,  and 
the  effect  is  like  enchantment.  The  scene  which,  at 
nightfall  on  the  preceding  evening,  was  bleak  and  cheer- 
less, is  all  at  once  converted  into  fairy  land.  Every 
vegetable  substance,  from  the  blades  of  grass  which  lay 
drooping  in  the  naked  fields,  to  the  polished  leaves  of 
the  evergreen  and  gnarled  branches  of  the  lofty  for- 
est oak,  is  suddenly  fringed  or  clothed  with  a  garniture 
of  purest  down,  whose  beauty  surpasses  the  poet's  dream, 
and  is  scarcely  less  substantial  or  less  fleeting. 

Another  most  beautiful  effect  of  frost,  which,  however, 
is  only  rarely  observed  in  the  climate  of  England,  where 
the  alternation  from  comparative  warmth  to  intense  cold 
is  not  so  sudden  as  in  some  other  countries,  is  finely  de- 
scribed in  the  following  wellknown  passage  of  a  poetical 
letter  from  Copenhagen,  by  Mr.  Phillips. 

"  Ere  yet  the  clouds  let  fall  the  treasured  snow, 
Or  winds  began  through  hazy  skies  to  blow, 
At  evening,  a  keen  eastern  breeze  arose, 
And  the  descending  rain,  unsullied,  froze. 
Soon  as  the  silent  shades  of  night  withdrew, 
The  ruddy  morn  disclosed  at  once  to  view 
The  face  of  Nature  in  a  rich  disguise, 
And  brightened  every  object  to  my  eyes  : 
For  every  shrub,  and  every  blade  of  grass, 
And  every  pointed  thorn,  seemed  wrought  in  glass  ; 
In  pearls  and  rubies  rich  the  hawthorns  show, 
While  through  the  ice  the  crimson  berries  glow  ; 
The  thick-sprung  reeds,  which  watery  marshes  yield, 
Seem  polished  lances  in  a  hostile  field. 


328  HOAR-FROST. 

The  stag,  in  limped  currents,  with  surprise, 

Sees  crystal  branches  on  his  forehead  rise. 

The  spreading  oak,  the  beech,  and  towering  pine, 

Glazed  over,  in  the  freezing  ether  shine. 

The  frighted  birds  the  rattling  branches  shun, 

That  wave  and  glitter  in  the  distant  sun. 

When,  if  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  arise, 

The  brittle  forest  into  atoms  flies  ; 

The  crackling  wood  beneath  the  tempest  bends, 

And  in  a  spangled  shower  the  prospect  ends.* 

Nor  must  I  omit  to  mention  yet  another  pleasing  pro- 
duction of  frost,  in  the  elegant  and  varied  foliations  which 
are  formed  on  the  glass  of  windows.  This  appearance 
takes  place  most  remarkably  in  cases  where  the  air  with- 
in the  room  happens  to  have  been  much  impregnated 
with  moisture,  either  from  the  human  breath,  when 
several  individuals  have  been  collected,  or  from  any 
other  cause.  The  coldness  of  the  glass  causes  the  float- 
ing vapor  to  be  condensed  on  its  surface,  where  it  shoots 
out,  as  it  freezes,  into  those  flowery  crystals,  which  ex- 
cite our  admiration.  The  precise  cause  of  this  phenome- 
non may  be  obscure,  like  every  other  phenomenon  of 
congelation  ;  but  the  effect  is  at  once  curious  and  pleas- 
ing ;  while,  if  we  trace  it  up  to  that  law,  of  which  it  is 
only  an  example,  it  will  acquire  a  higher  importance,  and 
be  found  to  be  connected  with  a  principle  of  vast  magni- 
tude in  the  world  of  unorganized  matter  ;  for  the  crys- 
tallizing process  (and  freezing  is  nothing  else)  seems  to 

*  [An  inhabitant  of  New  England  will  at  once  recognise  the  fidelity  of 
this  picture;  for,  though  rarely  to  be  observed  in  England,  it  is  frequently 
to  be  seen  here.  And  it  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  sights  which  our 
climate  presents  to  us.  A  shower  falls,  and,  under  a  change  of  atmos- 
phere, freezes  wherever  it  falls.  If  this  takes  place  at  night,  we  wake 
up  to  a  fairy  scene  in  the  morning.  The  fields,  the  roads,  the  houses, 
the  steeples,  the  trees,  are  all  cased  in  crystal,  and,  when  the  sun  rises, 
reflect  the  early  sunbeams  with  a  refulgence  which  seems  more  than 
earthly,  and  throws  all  human  splendor  into  shade.  Then  the  ever- 
greens are  plumes  of  emerald  ;  the  bare  twigs,  to  their  extremes!  tips,  are 
blazing  diamonds ;  the  meanest  things  are  richly  jewelled.  We  have  mu- 
sic, too,  in  the  woods,  a  sweet  tinkling  music,  as  the  breeze  or  the  warm 
rays  of  the  sun  pass  through  the  branches,  causing  them  to  drop  their 
jewels  on  the  hard  and  polished  ground.  All  is  animated  and  sparkling 
motion  ;  but  in  a  few  hours,  for  it  is  too  magnificent  to  last  long,  it  all 
melts,  is  broken,  and  passes  away. — AM.  ED.] 


FROST.  329 

form  the  link  between  the  unorganic  and  organic  sub- 
stances ;  by  the  regular  structure  of  its  productions,  mys- 
teriously uniting  crude  matter  with  the  vegetable  and 
animal  creations. 

The  pious  Sturm,  in  speaking  of  this  phenomenon,  views 
it  in  alight  different,  indeed,  but  not  less  important,  while 
his  reflection  equally  applies  to  the  other  appearances  of 
frost,  which  we  have  been  examining.  "  Can  an  object 
be  considered  as  little,"  says  he,  "when  it  furnishes 
matter  for  useful  reflection  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  do 
not  disdain  to  read,  even  on  the  frozen  glass,  a  truth 
which  may  have  a  great  influence  on  my  happiness. 
Behold  the  flowers  which  the  frost  has  portrayed  on  the 
glass  !  They  are  beautifully  and  artificially  varied  ;  nev- 
ertheless, one  ray  of  the  noonday  sun  effaces  them. 
Thus  the  imagination  paints  every  thing  beautiful  to  us  ; 
but  every  thing  which  it  represents  as  attractive  in  the 
possession  of  the  goods  of  this  world,  is  but  a  beautiful 
image  which  shall  disappear  in  the  light  of  reason.  The 
importance  of  this  lesson  of  wisdom  was  worth  the  trouble 
of  stopping  for  a  while,  at  the  little  phenomenon  which 
furnishes  it." 


TWELFTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

VII.  FROST. BENEFICENT  CONTRIVANCES  RELATIVE  TO  SNOW. 

As  the  influence  of  cold  is  felt  in  the  air,  as  well  as  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  indeed  becomes  more  in- 
tense, in  proportion  to  the  elevation,  it  must  affect  the 
moisture  which  floats  in  the  atmosphere.  The  rain-drops 
must  freeze,  and,  when  frozen,  must  be  precipitated  to 
the  ground.  Now,  were  this  process  to  take  place  in 
the  same  manner  as  it  occurs  on  the  face  of  a  lake  or 
pond,  and  were  the  water  in  the  clouds  to  be  converted 
into  solid  lumps  of  ice,  the  most  unhappy  consequences 
28* 


330  FROST. 

would  ensue,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  damage  occa- 
sioned by  a  hail-storm, — an  occurrence  which  sometimes, 
but  rarely,  happens,  as  if  to  call  our  attention  to  the  be- 
neficent provision  by  which  this  calamity  is  usually  ob- 
viated. The  fruits  of  the  earth  would  be  destroyed  ;  or, 
if  the  season  of  fruits  was  past,  at  least  the  branches  and 
embryo  buds  of  plants  and  trees  would  be  shattered  ; 
birds  on  the  wing,  or  on  the  perch,  would  be  struck  to 
the  ground,  stunned  and  dying  ;  the  more  tender  quad- 
rupeds would  receive  their  death-blow  ;  and  even  the 
hardy  races  of  animals,  and  man  himself,  would  not 
escape  material  injury.  None  of  these  consequences, 
however,  actually  take  place,  because  the  frozen  rain- 
drops descend,  not  in  the  form  of  ice,  or  even  usually  in 
the  less  destructive  form  of  hail,  but  on  the  downy  wings 
of  virgin  snow. 

Let  us  consider,  then,  the  properties  of  snow,  and  we 
shall  not  fail  to  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  provision.  The 
vapor  floating  in  the  atmosphere  is  arrested  by  the  cold, 
and  is  frozen  ;  but,  instead  of  running  together,  as  might 
be  expected,  into  solid  masses,  it  unites  with  the  nitrous 
particles,  also  to  be  found  mingled  with  the  air,  and, 
forming  a  compound  crystal,  shoots  out  into  beautiful 
feathery  flakes.  Whoever  will  take  the  trouble  to  exam- 
ine one  of  these  flakes  with  the  aid  of  a  microscope, 
cannot  fail  to  admire  the  elegance  and  skill  of  its  struc- 
ture. He  will  observe  many  little  sparkling  crosses  or 
darts  radiating  from  a  point,  and  branching  off  and  meet- 
ing in  all  directions,  so  as  to  form  hexagonal  lines  of 
much  beauty,  wrought  apparently  with  the  nicest  art,  and 
wonderfully  fitted  for  passing,  with  a  buoyant  and  flick- 
ering motion,  through  the  air,  so  as  to  drop,  without  dis- 
turbance, on  the  ground,  spreading  a  coat  of  dazzling 
whiteness,  profusely,  but  gently,  over  bush  and  brake, 
lawn  and  mountain.  It  has  been  found  by  experiment, 
says  Sturm,  that  "  snow  is  twenty-four  times  lighter  than 
water,  and  that  it  fills  up  ten  or  twelve  times  more  space, 
at  the  moment  of  falling,  than  the  water  produced  from 
it  when  melted."  This  is  an  admirable  contrivance,  to 
prevent,  or  at  least  to  modify,  what  would  otherwise 
prove  a  great  evil. 


CONTRIVANCES  RELATIVE  TO  SNOW.      331 

Another  useful  property  of  snow  has  been  noticed  by 
many  writers,  and  is  verified  by  yearly  experience. 
Being  a  very  imperfect  conductor  of  heat,  it  does  not 
readily  descend  below  the  freezing  point,  and  thus  tem- 
pers the  rigor  of  the  season.  Under  its  white  covering, 
the  earth  remains  of  a  moderate  and  equal  temperature, 
and  the  bulbs  and  roots  of  plants  are  preserved  from  the 
ungenial  influence  of  a  severe  sky.  In  consequence  of 
the  same  slowness  in  the  conduction  of  heat,  the  Arctic 
traveller  can  sleep,  without  much  inconvenience,  on  his 
bed  of  snow,  which  is  warm  compared  with  the  at- 
mosphere he  breathes  ;  and,  for  the  same  reason,  the 
snow-formed  hut  affords  the  Esquimaux  no  unpleasant 
abode.* 

Nor  must  we  forget  to  remark,  with  reference  to  the 
effects  of  snow  on  the  soil,  that  the  nitrous  particles 
which  it  contains,  are  said  to  be  of  a  fertilizing  quality, 
and,  as  it  gradually  melts,  these  particles  penetrate  the 
earth,  being  carried  to  the  roots  of  the  plants,  mingled 
with  the  water  into  which  it  is  converted.  Assuming 
the  accuracy  of  this  latter  observation,  we  shall  find 
abundant  cause  for  admiring  an  arrangement,  which,  in 
various  ways,  converts  an  apparent  curse  into  a  blessing, 
changing  that  which  seems  to  be  an  aggravation  of  this 
inclement  season,  and  a  source  of  sterility,  into  a  pro- 
tection from  the  cold,  and  a  means  of  future  fruitfulness. 

But  there  is  yet  another  arrangement,  in  reference  to 
this  subject,  which  must  not  be  overlooked.  When  the 
weather  changes,  which  it  sometimes  does  very  suddenly, 
the  greatest  inconveniences,  and  even  calamities,  would 
ensue,  were  the  effect  of  this  change  to  operate,  as  might, 
without  experience,  be  expected,  in  producing  an  instan- 
taneous conversion  of  the  snow  into  water.  If  the  frost 
were  as  quickly  expelled  from  water  as  from  the  air,  the 
moment  that  the  temperature  rose  above  thirty-two  de- 
grees, the  snow  would  become  liquid  as  by  magic,  the 
ice  would  vanish  like  a  dream  from  river  and  lake,  and 
the  rigid  earth  would,  on  the  higher  grounds,  be  in  an 

*  Whewell'a  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  90. 


332  FROST. 

instant  converted  into  a  swamp,  and  in  the  valleys  would 
be  overflowed,  and  swept  away  by  mountain  torrents. 
A  very  peculiar  and  remarkable  property  prevents  these 
disastrous  effects.  In  the  act  of  dissolving,  the  water 
absorbs  a  quantity  of  heat,  and  retains  it  in  a  latent  state  ; 
and,  on  this  account,  the  melting  process  cannot  take 
place  till  a  sufficient  quantity  has  been  absorbed.  This 
necessarily  causes  the  process  to  be  slow  ;  and  days,  and 
even  weeks  may  pass  away,  after  the  thaw  has  begun, 
before  the  ice  entirely  disappears  from  our  ponds,  or  the 
snow  from  our  hills.  The  advantageous  consequences 
of  this  retardation,  are  too  obvious  to  require  further  illus- 
tration ;  but  it  is  of  importance  to  remark,  that  it  is 
effected,  not  as  a  result  of  an  ordinary  and  general  law, 
but  rather  by  what  has  been  justly  called  the  apparent 
violation  of  a  law.  A  sudden  stand,  as  it  were,  is  made 
in  the  progress  of  the  change.  The  alteration  of  tem- 
perature, instead  of  producing  its  ordinary  effects,  be- 
comes, all  at  once,  apparently  feeble  and  languid  in  its 
operations  ;  the  heat,  as  it  is  applied,  disappears,  and  its 
dissolving  power  is  restrained  within  such  bounds,  as  to 
render  the  process  comparatively  innoxious. 

A  similar  effect  is  produced  in  the  boiling  of  water. 
At  the  boiling  point,  as  well  as  at  the  thawing  point,  a 
sudden  stoppage  takes  place,  and  the  heat  applied  be- 
comes latent,  so  as  to  preserve  the  water  at  that  point, 
till  it  is  gradually  carried  off  in  the  form  of  steam.  It 
is  this  property  which  renders  water  so  useful  in  the  va- 
rious operations  of  the  kitchen  and  the  manufactory.  If 
the  whole  volume  of  the  water  we  employ  were  to  be 
instantly  converted  into  steam,  when  it  arrived  at  the 
boiling  point,  which  would  certainly  be  the  case,  were 
it  not  for  the  peculiar  property  of  which  we  are  speaking, 
how  much  would  be  detracted  from  the  usefulness  of 
this  most  useful  element ! 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  wonderful  modification  of  a 
general  law,  the  beneficial  nature  of  which  is  as  manifest 
as  the  property  itself  is  remarkable.  Can  we  do  other- 
wise than  attribute  it  to  the  contrivance  of  an  intelligent 
Creator  ? 


LANDSCAPE   COVERED   WITH    SNOW.  333 

The  striking  appearance  of  a  landscape  covered  with 
new-fallen  snow,  and  the  effects  produced  on  the  lower 
animals  by  its  fall,  are  thus  graphically  described  by  the 
poet  of  the  Seasons  : — 

"  The  cherished  fields 
Put  on  their  winter  robe  of  purest  white. 
'T  is  brightness  all ;  save  where  the  new  snow  melts 
Along  the  mazy  current.     Low  the  woods 
Bow  their  hoar  heads  ;  and,  ere  the  languid  sun, 
Faint  from  the  west,  emits  his  evening  ray, 
Earth's  universal  face,  deep  hid  and  chill, 
Is  one  wild-dazzling  waste,  that  buries  wide 
The  works  of  man.     Drooping,  the  laborer-ox 
Stands  covered  o'er  with  snow,  and  then  demands 
The  fruit  of  all  his  toils.     The  fowls  of  heaven, 
Tamed  by  the  cruel  season,  crowd  around 
The  winnowing  store,  and  claim  the  little  boon 
Which  Providence  assigns  them.     One  alone, 
The  red-breast,  sacred  to  the  household  gods, 
Wisely  regardful  of  the  embroiling  sky, 
In  joyless  fields  and  thorny  thickets  leaves 
His  shivering  mates,  and  pays  to  trusted  man 
His  annual  visit.     Half  afraid,  he  first 
Against  the  window  beats  ;  then  brisk  alights 
On  the  warm  hearth  ;  then,  hopping  o'er  the  floor, 
Eyes  all  the  smiling  family  askance, 
And  picks,  and  starts,  and  wonders  where  he  is  ; 
Till,  more  familiar  grown,  the  table  crumbs 
Attract  his  slender  feet.     The  foodless  wilds 
Pour  forth  their  brown  inhabitants.     The  hare, 
Though  timorous  of  heart,  and  hard  beset 
By  death  in  various  forms, — dark  snares,  and  dogs, 
And  more  unpitying  men, — the  garden  seeks, 
Urged  on  by  fearless  want.     The  bleating  kind 
Eye  the  bleak  heaven,  and  next  the  glistening  earth, 
With  looks  of  dumb  despair  ;  then,  sad,  dispersed, 
Dig  for  the  withered  herb  through  heaps  of  snow." 


334  SAGACITY  AND  FIDELITY 


TWELFTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

SAGACITY   AND    FIDELITY  OF   THE   DOG    IN    SNOW. 

I  WELL  remember  with  what  delight  I  listened  to  an 
interesting  conversation,  which,  while  yet  a  schoolboy,  I 
enjoyed  an  opportunity  of  hearing  in  my  father's  manse,* 
between  the  poet  Burns,  and  another  poet,  my  near 
relation,  the  amiable  Blacklock.  The  subject  was  the 
fidelity  of  the  dog.  Burns  took  up  the  question  with  all 
the  ardor  and  kindly  feeling  with  which  the  conversation 
of  that  extraordinary  man  was  so  remarkably  imbued. 
It  was  a  subject  well  suited  to  call  forth  his  powers,  and, 
when  handled  by  such  a  man,  not  less  suited  to  interest 
the  youthful  fancy.  .  The  anecdotes  by  which  it  was  il- 
lustrated, have  long  escaped  my  memory  ;  but  there  was 
one  sentiment  expressed  by  Burns,  with  his  own  char- 
acteristic enthusiasm,  which,  as  it  threw  anew  light  into 
my  mind,  I  shall  never  forget.  "  Man,"  said  he,  a  is 
the  god  of  the  dog.  He  knows  no  other  ;  he  can  un- 
derstand no  other  : — And  see  how  he  worships  him ! 
With  what  reverence  he  crouches  at  his  feet,  with  wrhat 
love  he  fawns  upon  him,  with  what  dependence  he  looks 
up  to  him,  and  with  what  cheerful  alacrity  he  obeys  him  ! 
His  whole  soul  is  wrapped  up  in  his  god  ;  all  the  pow- 
ers and  faculties  of  his  nature  are  devoted  to  his  service  , 
and  these  powers  and  faculties  are  ennobled  by  the  inter- 
course. Divines  tell  us  that  it  ought  just  to  be  so  with 
the  Christian  ;  but  the  dog  puts  the  Christian  to  shame." 

The  truth  of  these  remarks,  which  forcibly  struck  me 
at  the  time,  has  since  been  verified  in  my  own  experi- 
ence ;  and  often  have  events  occurred  which,  while  they 
reminded  me  that  "man  is  the  god  of  the  dog,"  have 
forced  from  me  the  humiliating  confession,  that  "  the  dog 
puts  the  Christian  to  shame." 

*  Lochrutton  in  Galloway. 


OF   THE   DOG  IN   SNOW.  335 

The  dog  was  certainly  created  to  be  a  companion  and 
assistant  to  the  human  race.  It  is  well  observed  by 
Goldsmith,  that  the  generality  of  animals  have  greater 
agility,  greater  swiftness,  and  more  formidable  arms,  from 
Nature,  than  man  ;  their  senses,  and  particularly  that  of 
smelling,  are  often  far  more  perfect.  This  is  the  case 
with  the  dog  ;  the  having  gained,  therefore,  a  new  as- 
sistant, in  this  sagacious  and  quick-scented  animal,  was 
the  gaining  of  new  powers,  of  which  man  stood  in  need. 
There  are  various  important  services  rendered  to  man  by 
the  dog,  which  may  be  more  properly  noticed  afterwards. 
At  present,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  few  instances, 
in  which  he  contributes,  by  his  docility,  his  sagacity,  and 
his  attachment,  to  lessen  the  dangers  of  the  winter  storm, 
or  to  mitigate,  by  his  useful  labors,  the  rigors  of  an  un- 
genial  climate. 

I  begin  by  abridging  Captain  Parry's  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  dogs  are  employed  by  the  Esquimaux, 
in  conveying  them  from  place  to  clace  in  sledges  over 
the  ice  or  frozen  snow  ; — premising  that  does  of  this 
species  are  somewhat  smaller  in  size  than  those  of  New- 
foundland, and  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  wolf  of 
their  native  country,  and  that  they  have  very  firm  bone 
in  their  fore-legs,  with  great  strength  in  their  loins,  two 
essential  qualities  for  the  purpose  of  draught.  When 
drawing  a  sledge,  the  dogs  have  a  simple  harness  of  deer 
or  seal-skin  going  round  the  neck  by  one  bight  or  loop, 
and  another  for  each  of  the  fore-legs,  with  a  single  thong 
leading  over  the  back,  and  attached  to  the  sledge  as  a 
trace.  Though  they  appear  at  first  sight  to  be  huddled 
together  without  regard  to  regularity,  there  is,  in  fact, 
considerable  attention  paid  to  their  arrangement,  partic- 
ularly in  the  selection  of  a  dog  of  peculiar  spirit  and  sa- 
gacity, who  is  allowed,  by  a  longer  trace,  to  precede  the 
rest  as  a  leader,  and  to  whom,  in  turning  to  the  right  or 
left,  the  driver  usually  addresses  himself.  This  choice 
is  made  without  regard  to  age  or  sex,  and  the  rest  of  the 
dogs  take  precedence  according  to  their  training  or  sa- 
gacity, the  least  effective  being  placed  nearest  the  sledge. 
The  leader  is  usually  from  eighteen  to  twenty  feet  from 


336  SAGACITY  AND   FIDELITY 

the  forepart  of  the  sledge,  and  the  hindmost  dog  about 
half  that  distance  ;  so  that,  when  ten  or  twelve  are  run- 
ning together,  several  are  nearly  abreast  of  each  other. 
The  driver  sits  quite  low,  on  the  forepart  of  the  sledge, 
with  his  feet  overhanging  the  snow  on  one  side,  and  hav- 
ing in  his  hand  a  whip,  of  which  the  handle  is  eighteen 
inches,  and  the  lash  more  than  as  many  more  feet  in 
length.  The  men  acquire  from  their  youth  considerable 
expertness  in  the  use  of  the  whip,  the  lash  of  which  is 
left  to  trail  along  the  ground  by  the  side  of  the  sledge,  and 
with  which  they  can  inflict  a  very  severe  blow  on  any 
dog  at  pleasure.  The  dogs  are  kept  in  training  entirely 
by  the  fear  of  the  whip  ;  but  in  directing  the  sledge 
it  acts  no  very  essential  part,  the  driver  for  this  purpose 
using  certain  words,  as  wagoners  do  with  us,  to  make 
the  dogs  turn  to  the  right  or  left.  To  these  a  good  lead- 
er, when  admonished  by  name,  attends  with  admirable 
precision,  at  the  same  time  looking  behind  over  his  shoul- 
der with  great  earnestness,  as  if  listening  to  the  directions 
of  the  driver.  With  ugood  sleighing,"  that  is,  on  good 
roads,  six  or  seven  dogs  will  draw  from  eight  to  ten  hun- 
dred weight,  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight  miles  an  hour, 
for  several  hours  together.  With  a  smaller  load,  they 
will  run  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  are,  in  fact,  almost  un- 
manageable. To  the  women,  who  nurse  them  when  ill, 
and  treat  them  with  greater  kindness  than  the  men,  they 
are  affectionate  in  the  highest  degree.  From  the  men 
they  receive  little,  except  blows  and  rough  treatment ; 
still  they  are  faithful  and  enduring. 

Another  dog,  of  a  kind  not  dissimilar  to  that  of  the 
Esquimaux,  performs  to  man,  in  a  different  region,  a  ser- 
vice of  a  different  kind,  for  which  still  greater  sagacity 
is  necessary.  I  allude  to  the  Alpine  spaniel,  which  is 
employed  by  the  monks  of  the  convent  of  the  great  St. 
Bernard,  on  their  errands  of  humanity.  This  convent 
is  situated  near  the  top  of  that  high  mountain,  not  far 
from  the  region  of  perpetual  snow,  where  the  traveller 
is  often  suddenly  overtaken  with  the  most  severe  weather, 
and  is  liable  to  a  thousand  accidents.  The  sun  becomes 
suddenly  darkened  ;  the  wind  howls  ;  the  snow  comes 


OF  THE   DOG  IN   SNOW.  337 

in  twirls  through  the  air,  and  drifts  up  his  path ;  the  fa- 
tal avalanche  falls  from  the  impending  cliff,  and  sweeps 
trees  and  rocks  into  the  valley,  along  with  the  helpless 
passengers,  or  buries  them  deep  beneath  its  thundering 
mass.  The  pious  and  generous  monks  devote  themselves 
in  this  region  of  horrors,  to  offices  of  humanity  ;  and  in 
their  truly  Christian  task  they  are  admirably  assisted  by 
a  noble  breed  of  dogs,  whom  they  have  trained,  and  keep 
in  their  establishment,  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  trav- 
ellers from  destruction.  Benumbed  with  cold,  weary  in 
the  search  of  a  lost  track,  his  senses  yielding  to  the  stu- 
pifying  influence  of  frost,  which  betrays  the  exhausted 
sufferer  into  a  deep  sleep,  the  unhappy  man  sinks  upon 
the  ground,  and  the  snow-drift  covers  him  from  human 
sight.  It  is  then  that  the  keen  scent  and  the  exquisite 
docility  of  these  admirable  dogs  are  called  into  action. 
Though  the  perishing  man  lie  ten,  or  even  twenty  feet 
below  the  snow,  the  delicacy  of  smell  with  which  they 
can  trace  him,  offers  a  chance  of  escape.  They  scratch 
away  the  snow  with  their  feet,  and  they  set  up  a  contin- 
ued hoarse  and  solemn  bark,  which  brings  the  monks  and 
laborers  to  their  assistance.  To  provide  for  the  chance, 
that,  without  human  help,  the  dogs  may  succeed  in  dis- 
covering the  unfortunate  traveller,  one  of  them  has  a 
flask  of  spirits  round  his  neck,  to  which  the  fainting  man 
may  apply  for  support,  and  another  carries,  strapped  on 
his  back,  a  cloak  to  cover  him.  These  wonderful  exer- 
tions are  often  successful.  One  of  those  noble  creatures 
was  decorated  with  a  medal,  in  commemoration  of  his 
having  saved  the  lives  of  twenty -two  persons,  who  bul 
for  his  sagacity  must  have  perished.  He,  himself,  how- 
ever, met  an  untimely  fate,  in  1816,  in  an  attempt  to  con- 
vey a  poor  Piedmontese  courier  to  his  anxious  family. 
The  traveller,  with  two  guides  and  this  remarkable  ani- 
mal, were  descending  the  mountain,  and  some  members 
of  his  family  were  toiling  upward  in  search  of  him,  when 
two  avalanches  overwhelmed  them  all  in  one  common 
destruction.* 

*  Foot  note  to    Goldsmith's  *  Animated  Nature,'  Brown's  edition, 
vol.  ii.  p.  207. 

I.  29  VII. 


338  SAGACITY  AND   FIDELITY 

The  shepherd's  dog  of  Britain  is  not  less  susceptible 
of  training  than  the  Alpine  spaniel,  and  its  affection  for 
its  master  often  wonderfully  supplies  the  place  of  teach- 
ing, and  inspires  it  with  a  wisdom  little  short  of  human. 
Instances  in  illustration  of  this  are  familiar  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  mountainous  districts,  and  the  following  exam- 
ples, taken  from  Brown's  Supplement  to  Goldsmith's 
Animated  Nature,  cannot  fail  to  interest  the  reader. 

"  A  farmer,  near  Brechin,  having  gone,  during  a  severe 
snow-storm  in  1798,  to  visit  his  sheep,  while  employed 
in  driving  them  from  the  shelter  which  they  had  taken 
beneath  some  precipitous  rocks,  called  Ugly-Face,  was, 
with  his  dog,  buried  in  an  avalanche  of  snow,  which  fell 
from  these  rocks.  He  was  unable  to  extricate  himself, 
and  fell  asleep  in  his  desolate  situation  ;  but  his  dog 
worked  his  way  out,  ran  to  his  house,  and  by  significant 
gestures,  procured  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  inmates, 
who,  following  the  dog,  were  led  to  the  spot  where  he 
was  overwhelmed  with  snow.  They  began  to  dig,  and 
by  nightfall  found  the  farmer  in  an  erect  position,  quite 
benumbed,  but  life  not  extinguished,  and  being  rolled  in 
warm  blankets,  he  soon  recovered. 

"  About  the  year  1796,  a  farmer,  at  Holling,  in  Kent, 
was  returning  late  from  Maidstone  market,  in  a  state  of 
intoxication.  He  went  astray  from  the  road,  about  half 
a  mile  from  Willow- Walk,  and  becoming  completely  be- 
numbed, he  fell  among  the  snow,  in  one  of  the  coldest 
nights  ever  known.  Turning  on  his  back,  he  was  soon 
overpowered  with  sleep,  in  such  circumstances  the  usual 
concomitant  of  cold.  His  dog,  that  had  followed  closely 
after  him,  now  scratched  away  the  snow  from  about  him, 
so  as  to  form  a  protecting  wall  round  his  person,  and 
then  lay  down  on  his  master's  breast,  for  which  its  shaggy 
coat  proved  a  seasonable  protection  from  the  inclemency 
of  the  night,  and  the  snow  which  continued  to  fall.  On 
the  following  morning,  a  person  having  gone  out  with 
the  expectation  of  falling  in  with  some  wild  fowl,  had  his 
notice  attracted  by  the  uncommon  appearance,  and,  on 
coming  up,  the  dog  encouraged  him,  by  the  most  signifi- 
cant gestures,  to  approach.  He  wiped  the  icy  incrusta- 


OF  THE   DOG  IN   SNOW.  339 

tions  from  the  face  of  the  farmer,  whom  he  then  recog- 
nised, and  had  him  conveyed  to  the  nearest  house  in  the 
village,  where  animation  was  soon  restored." 

The  last  instance  which  I  give  of  .this  kind  of  sagacity, 
is  abridged  from  the  same  work,  and  shows  still  more 
remarkable  proofs  of  persevering  attachment.  Eric 
Runtson,  an  Iceland  fisherman,  left  his  home  early  on  a 
December  morning,  to  visit  a  friend,  accompanied  only 
by  his  faithful  dog,  Castor.  When  he  had  proceeded 
about  five  miles,  he  fell  into  a  deep  chasm,  and  alighted, 
unhurt,  on  a  shelving  part  of  the  rock,  about  sixty  feet 
below  the  surface.  Castor  ran  about  in  all  directions, 
howling  piteously.  He  even  several  times  made  as  if  he 
would  leap  down,  but  was  prevented  by  his  master  scold- 
ing him.  He  then  whined,  and  looked  from  the  brink 
into  the  chasm,  as  if  anxious  to  receive  his  master's  com- 
mands. After  spending  the  whole  day  in  fruitless  en- 
deavors to  reach  and  extricate  his  master,  a  sudden  thought 
seemed  to  seize  him,  and  he  darted  oft  in  the  direction 
of  home,  which  he  reached  about  eleven  o'clock.  The 
inmates  were  asleep,  but,  by  scratching  violently  at  the 
door,  he  gained  admittance.  At  first,  the  family  appre- 
hended nothing,  but  that  he  had  left  his  master,  and  re- 
turned ;  but,  by  his  refusing  food,  and  constantly  contin- 
uing to  scratch  Eric's  younger  brother,  Jon,  with  his 
paw,  and  then  to  run  to  the  door,  and  look  back  with  eager 
and  anxious  yells,  he  at  last  succeeded  in  exciting  their 
alarm ;  and,  when  Jon  and  another  man  dressed  and  fol- 
lowed him,  he  began  to  bark  and  caper  about  with  evi- 
dent joy.  At  one  time,  the  tempestuous  weather  led 
them  to  think  of  retracing  their  steps  ;  but  Castor,  on 
their  turning  back,  expressed  the  utmost  dissatisfaction, 
and,  by  pulling  them  by  the  clothes,  induced  them  to 
proceed.  He  conducted  them  to  the  chasm  where  poor 
Eric  was  entombed,  and,  beginning  to  scratch,  signified, 
by  the  most  expressive  howl,  that  his  master  was  below. 
Eric  answered  to  Jon's  call ;  and,  a  rope  being  procured, 
he  was  safely  drawn  up,  when  Castor  rushed  to  his  mas- 
ter, and  received  his  caresses  with  all  the  marks  of  ex- 
ternal triumph  and  joy. 


340  SAGACITY  OF  THE   DOG  IN  SNOW. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  a  poem  written  on  a  traveller 
who,  some  years  ago,  was  killed  by  falling  over  a  preci- 
pice on  Helvellyn,  and  whose  faithful  dog  watched  many 
days  by  his  lifeless  corpse,  thus  feelingly  describes  the 
attachment  of  that  interesting  animal : — 

"  Dark  green  was  that  spot  'mid  the  brown  mountain  heather, 
Where  the  pilgrim  of  Nature  lay  stretched  in  decay, 

Like  the  corpse  of  an  outcast  abandoned  to  weather, 
Till  the  mountain  winds  wasted  the  tenantless  clay  : — 

Nor  yet  quite  deserted,  though  lonely  extended, 

For  faithful  in  death  his  dumb  favorite  attended, 

The  much  loved  remains  of  her  master  defended, 
And  chased  the  hill-fox  and  the  raven  away. 

"  How  long  didst  thou  think  that  his  silence  was  slumber  ? 

When  the  wind  waved  his  garments  how  oft  didst  thou  start  ? 
How  many  long  days  and  long  nights  didst  thou  number  ? 

Ere  he  faded  before  thee,  the  friend  of  thy  heart  ! 
Say,  oh  !  was  it  meet  that,  no  requiem  read  o'er  him, 
No  mother  to  weep,  and  no  friend  to  deplore  him, 
And  thou,  little  guardian,  alone  stretched  before  him, 

Unhonor'd,  the  pilgrim  from  life  should  depart  ?"* 

The  more  we  know  of  this  wonderful  species,  the 
greater  reason  shall  we  find  to  praise  that  beneficent 
Being,  who  gave  the  dog  to  man  as  his  companion  and 
friend,  and  the  greater  indignation  shall  we  feel  against 
the  worse  than  brutal  human  beings,  who,  abusing  the 
devotion  of  this  most  affectionate  and  docile  creature, 
give  to  their  half  human  attendants  no  return  of  kindness  ; 
but  treat  them  with  cruelty,  and  compensate  their  good 
offices  with  blows. 

*  [Wordsworth  has  also  beautifully  versified  this  touching  event,  in 
some  stanzas,  entitled,  c  Fidelity.' — AM.  ED.] 


GEOLOGY.  341 


TWELFTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

I.    GEOLOGY. ITS  PHENOMENA  CONSISTENT  WITH  THE  MOSAIC 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CREATION. 

THE  existence  of  mountains,  which,  in  the  volume  on 
Spring,  will  be  shown  to  be  a  most  beneficent  arrange- 
ment, modern  geology  has  proved  to  be  owing  to  a  gen- 
eral disruption  of  the  original  crust  of  the  earth.  On  its 
first  formation,  the  surface  of  our  globe  must  have  been 
a  plain,  or,  at  least,  very  nearly  approaching  to  it.  The 
rocks  and  minerals  of  which  it  is  now  composed,  are,  on 
good  grounds,  believed  to  have  been  originally  in  a  liquid 
state  ;  and,  whether  fire  or  water  were  the  agents  em- 
ployed, or  if,  what  is  more  probable,  both  of  them  were 
employed,  either  separately  or  together,  the  strata  of  the 
earth  must,  by  the  law  of  gravitation,  have  been  formed 
horizontally,  and  the  surface  must  then  have  been  level. 
This  introduces  us  to  a  most  curious  and  interesting 
subject  ;  and  I  intend  to  devote  a  few  papers  to  a  rapid 
view  of  the  discoveries  of  the  geologist ;  but  before  en- 
tering on  this  alluring  field,  it  seems  proper  to  advert  to 
the  attack  which  has  been  made  by  infidel  writers  on  the 
Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  ;  that  this  matter  being 
put  on  its  proper  footing,  we  may  be  enabled  to  proceed 
with  safety  and  freedom. 

These  writers  allege,  that  there  are  incontrovertible 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  world  before  the  era  as- 
signed to  the  Mosaic  creation  ;  and  that  all  geological 
appearances  concur  in  bearing  evidence,  that  many  ex- 
istences, both  organized  and  unorganized,  instead  of  be- 
ing created  in  six  days,  have  been  successively  produced 
and  remodelled  in  the  course  of  many  hundreds,  perhaps 
thousands,  of  ages. 

Now,  granting  all  this  to  be  distinctly  established, — 
for  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  dispute  the  general  view 
29* 


342  GEOLOGY. PHENOMENA  CONSISTENT 

thus  stated,  much  less  am  I  inclined  to  call  in  question 
the  facts  by  which  it  is  supported, — there  are  two  ways 
by  which  these  appearances  have  been  attempted  to  be 
reconciled  to  the  Mosaic  account.  The  first,  and  ordi- 
nary way,  is,  by  supposing  that  the  six  days,  mentioned 
by  Moses  as  the  period  in  which  Creative  power  was 
exerted,  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  so  many  ages  of 
indefinite  extent.  And  in  support  of  this  opinion,there  are 
not  wanting  plausible  arguments.  The  word  day  is  as- 
suredly often  taken  in  Scripture  to  signify  an  age  or  an 
era;  thus,  we  read  of  uan  acceptable  day,"  and  uaday 
of  vengeance,"  and,  still  more  distinctly,  of  "  the  latter 
day,"  uthe  day  of  judgement,"  and  uthe  day  of  salva- 
tion," all  which  expressions  are  evidently  meant  to  indi- 
cate, not  a  natural  day  of  twenty-four  hours,  but  a  pecu- 
liar period  in  the  actings  of  God's  providence.  Again, 
it  has  been  argued,  that  the  various  works  assigned  to 
each  day,  when  taken  for  an  era,  correspond,  with  won- 
derful exactness,  to  the  geological  indications  ;  the  chaos, 
when  all  the  elements  were  in  a  mixed  and  turbid  state  ; 
the  separation  of  the  principle  of  light ;  the  subsidence 
of  the  waters,  and  the  appearance  of  dry  ground  ;  the 
creation  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  then  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  sea  ;  then  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  ;  and, 
last  of  all,  of  man, — seem  to  follow  in  the  precise  order 
of  succession  which  the  various  periods  marked  by  the 
labors  of  the  geologist  appear  very  clearly  to  sanction. 
All  this  might  appear  to  be  satisfactory,  were  it  not  that 
the  sacred  writer  seems  anxiously  to  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  such  an  explanation,  by  ending  the  account  of 
each  day's  operation  in  these  words,  "  And  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  first — (the  second,  the  third, 
&c.) — day,"  a  mode  of  expression  which  seems  very 
emphatically  to  confine  the  duration  of  the  work,  in  each 
instance,  to  a  natural  day,  or  a  revolution  of  the  earth  on 
its  axis,  although  this,  doubtless,  may  then  have  been 
much  more  tardy  than  it  is  at  present. 

This  method  of  getting  quit  of  the  difficulty,  seeming, 
therefore,  to  be  untenable,  we  are  bound  to  receive  the 
Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  in  the  natural  and  un- 


WITH  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  CREATION.  343 

strained  sense  of  the  words,  as  a  true  representation  of 
the  succession  of  visible  appearances  on  each  of  the  six 
days  of  this  first  week  of  time,  as  connected  with  the 
system  in  which  man  was  brought  into  existence  ;  but 
the  inquiry  is  still  open, — whether  or  not  the  materials, 
of  which  our  present  world  is  composed,  might  have 
been  made  use  of  by  the  Eternal  Creator,  at  a  period, 
or  during  a  succession  of  periods,  previous  to  that  of  the 
creation  recorded  by  Moses. 

In  looking  at  the  account  contained  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  with  this  inquiry  in  our  minds,  what  do  we 
see  ?  First  of  all  we  have  an  affirmation,  in  general  terms, 
that  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  things  :  for,  I  think  it  will 
be  readily  conceded,  that  nothing  more  than  this  is  meant 
by  the  expression,  u  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  Then  follows  a  declaration, 
that  immediately  before  the  commencement  of  the  Mosaic 
creation,  the  materials  of  which  the  new  world  was  to 
be  composed  were  already  in  existence,  but  in  a  chaotic 
state,  "the  earth  was  without  form  and  void,  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  Nothing  is  said 
of  the  preceding  state  of  this  chaos  ;  because  the  business 
of  the  sacred  historian  lay  entirely  with  the  world  as  it 
now  exists  ;  but,  undoubtedly,  there  is  here  no  assertion 
which  precludes  the  previous  use  of  the  materials,  on 
which  the  Almighty  was  now  beginning  to  operate  ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  very  existence  of  these  materials,  if  it 
does  not  imply,  at  least  renders  plausible,  the  supposi- 
tion, that  they  may  at  some  still  earlier  period  have  been 
employed  in  some  other  manifestations  of  the  Divine  per- 
fections. 

Now,  if  we  are  permitted  to  take  this  view,  all  the 
objections  of  the  geologist,  arising  from  the  appearances 
which  indicate  the  existence  of  organized  and  living  be- 
ings long  before  the  era  of  man,  vanish  at  once.  Should 
it  be  found,  that  for  many  thousands,  or  even  millions  of 
years,  the  matter  of  the  earth  was  in  existence  before  the 
creation  of  the  human  race,  and  that  it  had  been  made 
use  of  by  Him  whose  being  is  from  eternity,  as  the  hab- 
itation of  other  modes  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  in 


344  GEOLOGY. 

many  successive  epochs,  and  with  a  constant  progression 
towards  higher  powers  and  more  perfect  forms,  such 
facts,  so  far  from  invalidating  the  Mosaic  account,  seem 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  analogy  of  revealed  religion, 
which  is  itself  progressive,  and  the  belief  of  them  is  even 
favored  by  the  manner  in  which  the  account  of  what  must 
then  be  considered  as  the  latest  creation  is  introduced. 

This  is  the  view,  then,  which  I  am  disposed  to  take, 
though  I  am  quite  aware  that  some  highly  ingenious  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  reconcile  all  geological  appear- 
ances, to  the  opinion,  that  the  materials  of  the  world  did 
not  exist  previous  to  the  Mosaic  account, — the  soundness 
of  which  I  am  not  disposed  at  present  to  dispute.  In 
any  case,  the  evidence  of  Scripture,  which  rests  on  sep- 
arate grounds,  and  is  unimpeachable,  must  be  received 
as  paramount.  Let  every  human  system,  however  plau- 
sible, perish,  which  contradicts  the  word  of  eternal 
truth.* 

*  After  this  and  the  succeeding  papers  on  Geology  were  written,  and 
while  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  going  through  the  press,  Dr. 
Buckland  published  his  highly  interesting  and  valuable  Bridgewater 
Treatise.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  observe,  that  this  intelligent 
author  has  adopted  the  same  view  with  myself  as  to  the  mode  of  recon- 
ciling the  Mosaic  account  with  the  discoveries  of  Geology, — a  view 
which  he  states  himself  to  have  long  entertained,  and  to  have  previously 
given  to  the  world  in  his  Inaugural  Lecture,  in  1820.  He  also  quotes 
some  other  authors  as  agreeing  with  him  in  this  method  of  reconciliation, 
such  as  Dr.  Chalmers,  Bishop  Gleig,  a  writer  in  the  Christian  Observer, 
&c.  My  own  opinion,  which  was  formed  independently  of  these  writ- 
ers, I  can  now  advance  with  greater  confidence.  Dr.  Buckland  enters 
into  some  details  of  the  six  days  of  creation,  supported  by  critical  notices 
on  the  Hebrew  text,  by  the  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  Oxford, 
(Pusey,)  which  are  very  satisfactory.  It  is  shown  that  the  Hebrew 
word  (bara)  which  we  translate  "  created,"  does  not  necessarily  signi- 
fy formed  out  of  nothing,  though  it  is  a  stronger  word  than  asah,  made  : 
and  it  is  also  stated,  that  when  in  the  fourth  commandment  it  is  declared, 
that  "  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  in  them  is  ;"  the  word  employed  is  not  bara,  but  asah,  from  which 
it  expresses  nothing  more  than  "  a  new  arrangement  of  materials  which 
existed  before."  Indeed,  if  we  are  strictly  to  interpret  the  word  "create," 
as  signifying  made  out  of  nothing,  it  cannot  apply  to  the  work  of  any 
of  the  six  days,  which  consisted  in  the  act  of  forming  out  of  materials 
already  in  existence. 


OPERATIONS   OF  PROVIDENCE.  345 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— SUNDAY. 

ON  THE  DIFFICULTY  OF  COMPREHENDING  THE  OPERATIONS  OF 
PROVIDENCE. 

WE  have  been  contemplating  the  perfections  of  the 
Creator,  as  exhibited  in  His  works.  Let  us  pause  a  little 
on  this  day,  set  apart  for  devotional  exercises,  and  turn 
to  the  consideration  of  the  same  perfections,  as  exhibited 
in  His  moral  government. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  strikes  the  mind  in  adverting 
to  this  subject,  is  the  difficulty  of  comprehending  God's 
dealings  with  His  rational  creatures.  We  immediately 
discover,  that  u  His  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  His 
thoughts  as  our  thoughts."  A  peculiar  mystery  hangs 
over  his  operations,  when  we  examine  them  by  the  unas- 
sisted light  of  reason ;  and  this  mystery  is  greatly  modi- 
fied, although  it  is  not  altogether  removed,  when  revela- 
tion adds  its  clearer  light.  This  every  inquiring  mind 
must  have  felt,  in  considering  the  various  questions  con- 
nected with  the  existence  of  moral  evil.  Let  us  look, 
then,  at  the  sources  of  this  mystery,  and  we  shall  find 
them  all  resolving  themselves  into  this  one  fact, — The 
infinite  transcendency  of  the  Divine  perfections. 

The  wise  and  good  among  men  frequently  act  on  prin- 
ciples which  are  not  obvious  to  their  inferiors,  who  are 
not  capable  of  entering  into  their  exalted  views.  Can  it 
be  matter  of  surprise,  then,  that  the  feeble  and  grovelling 
race  of  Adam  should  be  found  incapable  of  entering  into 
the  counsels  of  Him  who  is  infinitely  wise,  and  infinitely 
good  ?  As  in  His  own  nature, He  is  incomprehensible, 
so  in  the  operations  of  His  providence, He  may  be,  and, 
indeed,  He  frequently  must  be,  influenced  by  motives 
far  above  our  conception.  "  As  the  heavens  are  higher 
than  the  earth,  so  are  His  ways  higher  than  our  ways, 
and  His  thoughts  than  our  thoughts."  He  acts  from  the 


346  DIFFICULTY  OF  COMPREHENDING 

infinite,  eternal,  and  unchangeable  impulse  of  His  own 
mind.  The  highest  angels  are  infinitely  beneath  Him. 
Even  they  cannot  fathom  the  depth  of  His  councils.  No 
wonder,  then,  that  we  should  often  be  confounded  in 
our  attempts  to  scan  His  character,  and  comprehend  His 
views. 

We  shall  be  better  able  to  understand  the  extent  of 
the  difficulty,  if  we  enter  into  particulars,  and  consider 
some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  providence  of  God  ope- 
rates on  His  rational  creatures.  God  is  omniscient.  He 
knows  our  frame,  and  "  understands  our  thoughts  afar 
off."  He  forms  no  superficial  or  unjust  judgement  of  our 
character  and  motives,  as  we  short-sighted  mortals  do  in 
regard  to  our  fellow-men.  He  knows,  for  instance, 
whether  our  actions  proceed  from  selfish  or  benevolent 
motives  ;  whether  a  sense  of  duty  or  a  love  of  human 
approbation  lies  at  the  bottom  of  our  conduct ; — whether 
worldly  possessions  improve  or  correct  our  hearts.  He, 
therefore,  knows,  what  we  cannot  distinctly  know, — the 
kind  of  discipline  we  require  to  train  us  for  heaven  ;  and 
He  accommodates  the  operations  of  His  providence  to 
this  knowledge.  He  comforts  us  with  hope,  or  encour- 
ages us  with  success,  or  blesses  us  with  enjoyment,  and 
causes  His  "candle  to  shine  on  our  head,"  just  to  the 
extent  to  which  He  sees  these  earthly  blessings  will  be 
really  useful  to  us.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  He  morti- 
fies us  with  disappointment,  or  humbles  us  with  disgrace, 
or  chastens  us  with  poverty,  or  warns  us  by  sickness,  or 
causes  the  loss  of  all  that  was  nearest  and  dearest  to  our 
hearts, — that  He  may  thus  call  us  to  serious  reflection, 
and  break  the  ties  which  bind  us  to  the  earth,  and  lead  us 
to  place  our  treasure,  and  fix  our  affections,  in  heaven. 
And  all  this, He  frequently  does,  without  our  being  able 
to  understand  His  reasons,  because  we  are  ignorant  both 
of  our  own  character  and  wants,  and  of  the  character 
and  wants  of  others. 

Nor  is  this  all.  God  is  acquainted  with  the  ultimate 
consequences  of  all  events.  He  traces  every  thing  to 
its  most  remote  effects.  It  is  not  merely  the  advantage 
of  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  a  year,  that  He  regards.  He 


THE    OPERATIONS    OF   PROVIDENCE.  347 

looks  forward  to  the  most  distant  futurity,  and,  with  uner- 
ring certainty,  calculates  the  precise  bearing  of  every 
present  event  on  ages  yet  to  come.  It  is  an  awful  con- 
sideration, that  there  is  not  an  action  of  our  lives,  nor  a 
word  which  we  utter,  nor  even  a  thought  which  passes 
through  our  hearts,  that  may  not  be  pregnant  with  import- 
ant consequences, — with  consequences  which  may  not 
only  deeply  affect  ourselves,  but  others  ;  which  may  be 
productive  of  good  or  evil,  not  merely  in  our  own  imme- 
diate circle,  but,  sometimes,  even  to  the  community 
among  whom  we  dwell,  and  the  age  in  which  we  live. 
Nor  does  the  influence  necessarily  stop  here, — it  may  ex- 
tend to  distant  posterity.  These  consequences  we  can- 
not see,  but  God  estimates  them  all.  Every  word,  every 
look  of  ours,  the  all-seeing  Eye  follows  through  all  its 
effects  on  the  character  of  our  children,  and  friends,  and 
neighbors  ;  and  thence,  again,  on  the  sentiments  and  con- 
duct of  others  influenced  by  them  ;  and,  further  still,  on 
those  of  their  children,  and  their  children's  children,  to 
the  latest  generations.  How  infinitely  is  this  beyond  the 
grasp  of  the  human  mind  ! 

Again,  the  Eternal  not  only  knows  the  effects,  but  the 
relations  and  comparative  value  of  all  things.  Men  view 
events  under  a  perverted  aspect, — judging  of  their  im- 
portance more  by  their  nearness  or  their  distance,  than 
by  their  intrinsic  worth.  Through  the  false  medium  of 
passion  or  of  prejudice,  we  are  apt  to  magnify  or  con- 
tract the  dimensions  of  objects,  and  to  form  an  opinion 
of  them  altogether  different  from  the  reality.  We  shall 
be  more  sensible  of  this,  if  we  reflect,  for  a  moment,  on 
the  different  sentiments  with  which  we  regard  death,  when 
we  hope  that  this  event  is  distant,  and  when  we  perceive 
or  imagine  it  to  be  near  ;  or,  indeed,  if  we  consider  the 
general  tendency  of  the  mind  to  form  a  foolish  attach- 
ment to  temporal  things,  in  preference  to  those  things 
that  are  eternal. 

But  none  of  these  prejudices  and  prepossessions  ob- 
struct or  deceive  the  vision  of  the  Almighty.  Those 
things  which  occupy  the  attention  of  our  worldly  minds, 
He  sees  in  all  their  emptiness  and  frivolity  ;  the  heavenly 


348  THE    OPERATIONS   OF  PROVIDENCE. 

treasures  which  we  regard  with  such  indifference,  He 
views  in  their  infinite  magnitude  and  importance  ;  and  all 
these,  with  unerring  wisdom,  He  adjusts  (independent  of 
the  vain  wishes  of  men)  so  as  to  promote  the  greatest 
good.  Here  is  another  obvious  source  of  inadequate  com- 
prehension on  our  part. 

We  must  further  remember,  that  these  unsearchable 
operations  are  not  confined  to  the  welfare  of  individuals. 
They  embrace  the  interests  of  nations, — of  the  earth, — 
of  the  universe  !  While  there  is  not  a  living  being  in 
creation  to  whom  the  paternal  care  of  the  Creator  does 
not  extend,  He  views  the  world  as  a  whole,  and  so  reg- 
ulates every  part,  as  either  to  promote  the  happiness  of 
all,  or  to  visit  them  with  retributive  justice.  What  a 
wonderful  conception  is  this  !  From  the  worm  to  man, 
from  man  to  the  archangel,  all  are  linked  together  in  the 
counsels  of  God  ;  and,  while  there  is  not  one  of  all  these 
creatures  whom  He  does  not  care  for,  as  if  there  were 
no  other  being  to  occupy  his  attention,  all  are  governed 
as  one  great  family,  of  which  each  member  has  its  own 
department,  and  in  which  one  great  design  is  constantly 
kept  in  view, — the  perfection  and  happiness  of  the 
whole. 

Nor  must  we  forget,  that  the  schemes  of  the  Self-ex- 
istent are  not  bounded  by  time,  but  embrace  eternity. 
In  the  present  world,  the  moral  government  of  God  is 
only  begun.  That  may  appear  imperfect  and  disordered, 
of  which  we  only  see  apart,  when,  if  the  whole  were  dis- 
played and  understood,  every  minute  particular,  and  the 
united  result  of  the  whole,  would  be  found  to  be  the  per- 
fection of  wisdom. 

He  who  has  seen  a  powerful  and  complicated  system 
of  machinery  in  operation,  of  which  he  was  only  permit- 
ted to  examine  a  small  part,  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
effect  of  so  partial  a  view  of  the  operations  of  Providence. 
He  saw  an  apparently  confused  and  unwieldy  mechanism, 
of  which  he  neither  understood  the  principle  nor  the  use. 
Wheels  on  wheels,  moving  in  seeming  disorder, — valves 
opening  and  shutting, — levers  straining, — beams  revolv- 
ing,— while  fire  and  water  combined  their  mysterious 


GEOLOGY.  349 

powers.  He  perceived,  in  short,  an  immense  expense 
of  labor  and  ingenuity, — and  all  for  what  ?  He  could  not 
tell :  He  observed  amazing  powers  in  operation  ;  he  heard 
a  grating  and  astounding  noise, — and  that  was  all.  But 
were  he  admitted  into  the  upper  apartments,  where  the 
effect  of  all  these  operations  is  displayed,  what  a  different 
opinion  would  he  form  !  How  would  he  admire  the  tal- 
ents which  could  so  control  the  powers  of  Nature,  as  to 
give  man  a  force  immensely  superior  to  his  own,  and  add 
to  the  resources,  and  insure  the  prosperity,  not  of  indi- 
viduals only,  but  of  the  whole  empire  ! 

And  so  it  is  with  the  operations  of  Providence.  Here 
we  see  but  a  part,  and  that  a  very  small  part,  of  the  ma- 
chinery by  which  He  conducts  the  moral  government  of 
the  world.  Even  if  we  could  understand  all  the  relations 
of  temporal  things,  we  could  not  understand  their  bear- 
ings on  eternity.  Some  glimpses,  indeed,  Revelation 
has  afforded  us  into  that  upper  apartment,  where  the  whole 
scheme  is  consummated,  and  where  the  ways  of  God  are 
vindicated  to  His  creatures  ;  but  how  imperfect  and  how 
inadequate  !  Let  us  look  forward  with  eagerness  and 
hope  to  the  approaching  period,  when  the  veil  shall  be 
removed  from  our  eyes,  and  "we  shall  know  even  as  we 
are  known." 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— MONDAY. 

II.  GEOLOGY. SUCCESSIVE  PERIODS  OF  DEPOSIT. 

ASSUMING  the  existence  of  matter  from  an  indefinite 
period  before  the  commencement  of  the  Mosaic  creation, 
let  us  attend  to  the  opinions  which  have  been  adopted  by 
modern  geologists,  from  views  founded  on  the  knowledge 
they  have  acquired  of  the  crust  of  the  earth. 

It  should  seem,  according  to  these  inquiries,  that  there 
are  three  well-marked  periods  in  the  primitive  history  of 
i.  30  vn. 


350  GEOLOGY. 

our  globe,  during  which  the  most  extensive  changes  have 
taken  place  on  its  surface,  and  fresh  deposits  have  been 
made.  The  order  of  time  in  which  these  changes  have 
been  effected,  can  be  fixed,  as  is  supposed,  with  consid- 
erable precision.  We  are  first  informed,  that  there  was 
what  may  be  called  the  Primitive  era,  or  period  of  gran- 
ite, when  this  species  of  rock,  with  other  stony  substances, 
and  the  wide-spread  ocean  from  which,  in  the  process  of 
ages,  extensive  deposits  of  sand  were  made,  seem  to  have 
covered  the  whole  face  of  the  earth,  forming  a  cheerless 
and  gloomy  waste,  destitute  of  organized  existences,  and 
void  of  life.  This  epoch  is  said  to  have  been  followed 
by  another  period  of  long  duration,  in  which  some  violent 
convulsions  have  taken  place,  and  active  powers  have 
been  at  work,  effecting  extensive  changes,  without  appear- 
ing, during  its  continuance,  to  have  settled  down  into  a 
permanent  state ;  hence  called  the  Transition  period.  It  is 
during  this  period,  that  the  first  rudiments  of  vegetable 
and  animal  existences  seem  to  have  taken  their  origin,  as 
the  lowest  kind  of  organized  beings  are  found  embedded 
in  its  deposits. 

ju  Beginning  with  the  animal  kingdom,"  says  Dr.  Buck- 
land,  u  we  find  the  four  great  existing  divisions  of  Fer- 
tebrata,  Mollusca,  Articulala,  and  Radiata,  to  have  been 
coeval  with  the  commencement  of  organic  life  upon  our 
globe.  No  higher  condition  of  Vertebrata  has  yet  been 
discovered  in  the  transition  formation  than  that  of  fishes." 
"  The  Mollusca,  in  the  transition  series,  afford  examples 
of  several  families,  and  many  genera,  which  seem  at  that 
time  to  have  been  universally  diffused  over  all  parts  of 
the  world."  "  The  earliest  examples  of  Articulated  ani- 
mals are  those  afforded  by  the  extinct  family  of  Trilo- 
bites."  These  seem  to  have  perished  at  the  end  of  this 
series.  u  The  Radiated  animals  are  among  the  most 
frequent  organic  remains  in  the  transition  strata.  They 
present  numerous  forms  of  great  beauty."  Of  the  vege- 
table kingdom  in  this  earliest  period  of  organized  exist- 
ences, Dr.  Buckland  says,  "In  the  inferior  regions  of 
this  series,  plants  are  few  in  number,  and  principally  ma- 
rine ;  but  in  its  superior  regions,  the  remains  of  land  plants 
are  accumulated  in  prodigious  quantities."  They  form, 


SUCCESSIVE   PERIODS  OF   DEPOSIT.  351 

in  their  destruction,  a  great  part  of  our  present  coal  fields, 
and  many  strata  of  the  carboniferous  order  contain  sub- 
ordinate beds  of  a  rich  argillaceous  iron  ore.  t4  A  for- 
mation," adds  our  author,  "  that  is  at  once  the  vehicle 
of  two  such  valuable  mineral  productions  as  coal  and  iron, 
assumes  a  place  of  the  first  importance  among  the  sources 
of  benefit  to  mankind  ;  and  this  benefit  is  the  direct  re- 
sult of  physical  changes  which  affected  the  earth  at  those 
remote  periods  of  time,  when  the  first  forms  of  vegetable 
life  appeared  upon  its  surface." 

Resting  on  the  transition  rocks,  and  therefore  believed 
immediately  to  succeed  them  in  the  era  of  their  deposi- 
tion, come  the  rocks  of  what  has  been  called  the  Second- 
ary epoch,  during  which,  along  with  a  distinct  and  peculiar 
vegetation,  animals  have  existed,  chiefly  the  inhabitants 
of  the  waters,  or  saurian  reptiles,  of  gigantic  forms,  partly 
marine,  partly  amphibious,  and  partly  terrestrial ;  and, 
at  the  same  period  also,  have  lived  mammalia  of  the  mar- 
supial order,  and  some  testudinata  and  feathered  tribes  ; 
as,  not  only  their  petrified  remains,  but,  what  is  still  more 
remarkable,  the  marks  of  their  footsteps  on  sandstone, 
have  recently  been  found  to  testify.  Dr.  Buckland,  in 
speaking  of  fossil  Testudinata,  says,  u  The  remains  of 
land  tortoises  have  been  more  rarely  observed  in  a  fossil 
state.  Cuvier  mentions  but  two  examples,  and  these  in 
very  recent  formations,  at  Aix,  and  in  the  Isle  of  France. 
Scotland  has  recently  afforded  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  more  than  one  species  of  these  terrestrial  reptiles, 
during  the  period  of  the  new  red  or  variegated  sandstone 
formation.  The  nature  of  this  evidence  is  almost  unique 
in  the  history  of  organic  remains."  In  a  foot  note,  he 
states  that  a  discovery  of  fossil  footmarks,  similar  to  that 
made  at  Corncocklemuir,  which  was  communicated  by 
me,  in  1828,  to  the  Edinburgh  Royal  Society,*  has  re- 
cently been  made  in  Saxony,  at  the  village  of  Hessberg, 
near  Hildburghausen,  in  several  quarries  of  gray  quartz- 
ose  sandstone,  alternating  with  beds  of  red  sandstone, 
nearly  of  the  same  age  with  that  of  Dumfriesshire,  of 
which  notices  have  been  given  by  Dr.  Hohnbaum,  Pro- 

*  [See  vol.  xi.  of  their  Transactions. — AM.  ED.] 


352  GEOLOGY. 

fessor  Caup,  and  Dr.  Sickler.  In  another  place, he  also 
mentions  footmarks  of  several  extinct  species  of  birds, 
having  lately  been  found  by  Professor  Hitchcock,  in  the 
new  red  sandstone  of  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  one  of 
them  of  a  species  of  enormous  dimensions,  which  took  a 
stride  of  six  feet. 

[Professor  Hitchcock's  account  of  his  discoveries  was 
presented  to  the  public  through  the  American  Journal  of 
Science  and  the  Arts,  and  may  be  found  in  vol.  xxix., 
article  Ornithichnology ;  a  word  derived  from  the  Greek, 
signifying  stony  birdtracks.  The  Professor  gives  an  in- 
teresting description  of  the  footmarks,  accompanied  with 
illustrative  drawings,  among  which  is  one  representing  the 
foot  of  the  gigantic  bird  just  alluded  to. 

Of  this,  he  says,  u  In  one  specimen,  the  claw  is  at  least 
two  inches  long,  and  even  then  a  part  of  it  appears  to  be 
missing.  The  whole  length  of  the  foot,  consequently,  is 
sixteen  or  seventeen  inches  !  Length  of  the  successive 
steps,  between  four  and  six  feet !  Indeed,  I  suspect,  from 
the  numerous  examples  which  I  have  seen  of  tracks  at 
the  distance  of  four  feet,  that  this  was  the  ordinary  step 
of  the  bird  when  walking  ;  while  it  was  able  to  lengthen 
it  to  six  feet,  when  moving  rapidly." 

In  speaking  of  another  species,  he  observes,  "  The 
best  specimen  that  I  possess,  exhibits,  at  a  few  inches 
behind  the  heel,  a  depression  nearly  an  inch  deep,  and 
several  inches  across  ;  the  anterior  slopes  to  which,  in 
the  rear,  appear  as  if  large  bristles  had  been  impressed 
upon  the  mud.  The  impression  extends  backwards  from 
the  heel,  at  least  eight  or  nine  inches  ;  so  that  the  whole 
length  of  the  track  is  not  less  than  two  feet !  The  rock 
on  which  this  species  of  track  appears,  is  composed  of 
a  fine  blue  mud,  such  as  is  now  common  in  ponds  and 
estuaries  ;  and  where  the  bird  trod  upon  it,  in  some  cases, 
it  seems  the  mud  was  crowded  upwards,  forming  a  ridge 
around  the  track  in  front,  several  inches  in  height.  In- 
deed, I  hesitate  not  to  say,  that  the  impression  made  on 
the  mud  appears  to  have  been  almost  as  deep,  indicating 
a  pressure  almost  as  great,  as  if  an  elephant  had  passed 
over  it.  I  could  not  persuade  myself,  until  the  evidence 


SUCCESSIVE   PERIODS    OF   DEPOSIT.  353 

became  perfectly  irresistible,  that  I  was  examining  merely 
the  track  of  a  bird." 

"  As  to  their  real  size,"  he  continues,  "  we  may  for 
ever  be  left  to  conjectures.  But  I  am  not  sure  that  a 
practised  comparative  anatomist  could  not  determine  the 
size  of  a  bird,  having  the  size  of  the  foot,  and  the  length 
of  the  step  given.  I  shall  not  attempt  the  problem  any 
further  than  to  state  one  fact,  by  way  of  comparison.  The 
African  ostrich,  the  largest  of  known  birds,  has  a  foot 
only  ten  inches  long,  reckoning  from  the  back  part  of  the 
heel  to  the  extremity  of  the  claw  ;  the  length  of  the  leg, 
from  the  hip  joint  to  the  ground,  is  four  feet  one  inch  ; 
and  yet  it  sometimes  weighs  eighty  or  one  hundred 
pounds,  and,  in  walking,  its  head  is  as  high  as  that  of  a 
man  on  horseback  ;  or  from  seven  to  nine  feet.  May 
we  not  infer  that  some  of  these  ancient  birds,  must  have 
been  almost  twice  as  high  and  heavy  as  the  ostrich  ? 
From  a  few  trials,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  legs  of  a  bird, 
(including  the  thigh,)  wrhose  ordinary  step  was  four  feet, 
could  have  been  much  less  than  six  feet,"and"I  should 
say  his  head  must  have  been  elevated  from  twelve  to  fif- 
teen feet  above  the  ground  !" 

u  Such,"  says  the  Professor,  "must  have  been  the 
feathered  tenants,  that  once  occupied  the  now  delightful 
valley  of  the  Connecticut.  At  that  time,  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  valley  to  have  been  an  estuary  ;  for 
the  organic  remains  of  the  new  red  sandstone,  are  chiefly 
marine.  And  to  show  that  other  organic  beings,  that 
were  contemporaries  with  these  huge  birds,  were  their 
compeers  in  size,  I  would  mention  a  seafern,  found  in 
the  new  red  sandstone  of  West  Springfield,  that  has  been 
uncovered,  without  reaching  its  limits,  eighteen  feet  in 
length,  and  four  feet  in  width  !  Indeed,  the  colossal  bulk 
of  these  birds,  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  organic  life  in  every  part  of  our  globe.  The 
much  higher  temperature  that  then  prevailed,  seems  to 
have  been  favorable  to  a  giantlike  developement  of  every 
form  of  life.  The  most  interesting  aspect,  in  which  the 
facts  that  have  been  stated  present  themselves  to  the  ge- 
ologist, is,  as  to  the  evidence  they  afford  of  the  very  early 
30* 


354  GEOLOGY. 

existence  of  birds,  among  the  inhabitants  of  our  globe. 
Heretofore,  there  has  been  no  proof  of  their  existence, 
until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period.  But  it  now 
appears  that  they  were  among  the  earliest  of  the  vertebral 
animals  that  were  placed  on  the  globe.  The  discovery 
of  some  monument,  that  reveals  the  history  of  a  people, 
a  few  hundred  years  earlier  than  had  before  been  known, 
affords  a  high  gratification  to  the  antiquary.  But  in  these 
simple  footmarks,  the  existence,  and  some  of  the  habits, 
of  an  interesting  class  of  animals  is  proved,  at  a  period 
so  remote,  that  the  entire  population  of  the  globe  has 
since  been  changed,  at  least  once  or  twice,  and  probably 
several  times  more.  The  number  of  years  that  have 
since  elapsed,  we  cannot  even  conjecture,  for,  in  respect 
to  all  the  races  of  animals  and  plants  that  have  occupied 
the  globe,  previous  to  the  existing  tribes,  the  Scriptures 
are  silent,  giving  us  to  understand  merely  that  a  period 
of  indefinite  duration  intervened,  between  '  the  beginning' 
and  the  creation  of  man  ;  and  geological  monuments,  al- 
though they  clearly  point  out  successive  epochs  in  the 
natural  history  of  the  globe,  yet  furnish  us  with  few  chro- 
nological dates." 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  of  our  making  any  further  ex- 
tracts from  this  long  and  valuable  paper.  We  would  refer 
those  desirous  of  pursuing  the  investigation  to  the  original 
document,  and  also  to  additional  communications  on  the 
subject,  to  be  found  in  subsequent  volumes  of  the  same 
periodical. — AM.  EDITOR.] 

On  the  subject  of  these  discoveries,  with  particular 
allusion  to  that  in  Corncocklemuir,  I)r.  Buckland  has  the 
following  elegant  observations.  "  The  historian  or  the 
antiquary  may  have  traversed  the  fields  of  ancient  or  of 
modern  battles,  and  may  have  pursued  the  line  of  march 
of  triumphant  conquerors,  whose  armies  trampled  down 
the  most  mighty  kingdoms  of  the  world.  The  winds 
and  storms  have  utterly  obliterated  the  ephemeral  impres- 
sions of  their  course.  Not  a  track  remains  of  a  single 
foot  or  a  single  hoof,  of  all  the  countless  millions  of  men 
and  beasts,  whose  progress  spread  desolation  over  the 
earth.  But  the  reptiles  that  crawled  upon  the  half-fin- 


SUCCESSIVE  PERIODS   OF  DEPOSIT.  355 

ished  surface  of  our  infant  planet,  have  left  memorials 
of  their  passage  enduring  and  indelible.  No  history  has 
recorded  their  creation  or  destruction ;  their  very  bones 
are  found  no  more  among  the  fossil  relics  of  a  former 
world.  Centuries  and  thousands  of  years  may  have 
rolled  away,  between  the  time  in  which  these  footsteps 
were  impressed  by  tortoises  upon  the  sands  of  their  na- 
tive Scotland,  and  the  hour  when  they  are  again  laid 
bare,  and  exposed  to  our  curious  and  admiring  eyes. 
Yet  we  behold  them  stamped  upon  the  rock,  distinct  as 
the  track  of  the  passing  animal  upon  the  recent  snow  ; 
as  if  to  show  that  thousands  of  years  are  but  as  nothing 
amidst  eternity ; — and,  as  it  were,  in  mockery  of  the 
fleeting  perishable  course  of  the  mightiest  potentates 
among  mankind." 

To  the  secondary  period,  again,  is  believed  to  have 
succeeded  another  epoch,  during  which,  rocks,  of  what 
is  called  the  Tertiary  formation,  have  been  deposited,  and 
animals,  as  well  as  plants,  of  a  larger  and  more  perfect 
kind,  and  approaching  nearer  to  those  of  our  own  era, 
have  existed. 

The  Tertiary  epoch  has  recently  been  divided  into 
four  periods,  founded  on  the  proportions  which  their 
fossil  shells  bear  to  marine  shells  of  existing  species. 
During  the  first  period,  these  productions  exhibit  but  a 
small  resemblance  to  our  present  orders  ;  but  this  resem- 
blance increases  through  each  successive  period,  till  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  fossil  species  come  to  bear  a 
distinctly  marked  affinity  to  present  existences.  A 
similar  remark  may  be  made  with  regard  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  land.  By  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the 
genera  which  existed  during  the  earliest  period  of  this 
epoch,  are  now  extinct,  while  the  terrestrial  animals  of 
the  latest  period  have  very  generally  antitypes  in  the 
living  species  of  our  own  era.  "It  appears,"  says  Dr. 
Buckland,  "that,  at  this  epoch,  the  whole  surface  of 
Europe  was  densely  peopled  by  various  orders  of  Mam- 
malia; that  the  numbers  of  the  herbivora  were  maintained 
in  due  proportion  by  the  controlling  influence  of  carniv- 
ora  j  and  that  the  individuals  of  every  species  were  con- 


356  GEOLOGY. 

structed  in  a  manner  fitting  each  to  its  own  enjoyment  of 
the  pleasures  of  existence,  and  placing  it  in  due  and  use- 
ful relations  to  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  by 
which  it  was  surrounded."  He  then  concludes  his  ob- 
servations on  the  tertiary  series  with  the  following  just 
and  striking  remarks.  "Every  comparative  anatomist  is 
familiar  with  the  beautiful  examples  of  mechanical  con- 
trivance and  compensations  which  adapt  existing  species 
of  herbivora  and  carnivora^  to  their  own  peculiar  place 
and  state  of  life.  Such  contrivances  began  not  with 
living  species.  The  geologist  demonstrates  their  prior 
existence  in  the  extinct  forms  of  the  same  genera,  which 
he  discovers  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and  he 
claims  for  the  Author  of  these  fossil  forms,  under  which 
the  first  types  of  such  mechanisms  were  embodied,  the 
same  high  attributes  of  wisdom  and  goodness,  the  dem- 
onstration of  which,  exalts  and  sanctifies  the  labors  of 
science,  in  her  investigations  of  the  organizations  of  the 
living  world." 

This  latter  period  is  believed  to  have  immediately  pre- 
ceded the  Mosaic  creation,  and  to  have  ended  in  some 
universal  catastrophe,  which  entirely  broke  up  and  de- 
ranged the  whole  face  of  the  earth,  destroying  all  vege- 
table and  animal  life,  and  reducing  the  whole  materials  of 
the  globe  to  that  state  of  chaos  which  the  sacred  historian 
so  briefly,  but  emphatically  describes,  when  he  says,  that 
"  the  earth  was  without  form, and  void,  and  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep." 

It  would  be  inconsistent  with  my  plan  to  enter,  with 
any  minuteness,  into  a  detail  of  the  arguments  by  which 
geologists  maintain  the  truth  of  these  views  ;  but  I  may 
mention,  in  a  single  sentence,  that  the  rocks,  called  pri- 
mary, obtain  this  name,  because,  though  they  frequently 
are  found  to  have  burst  through  all  the  other  strata  of 
which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  composed,  and  even  to 
overtop  them  all,  forming  our  most  elevated  mountain 
ranges,  yet  they  uniformly  dip  deeper  down  below  the 
earth's  surface  than  all  the  rest,  and  form  the  substratum 
on  which  the  others  recline.  Immediately  above  these, 
lies  the  transition  deposit,  then  the  secondary,  and  then 


SUCCESSIVE  PERIODS   OF  DEPOSIT.  357 

the  tertiary  formations.  The  obvious  conclusion  is,  that, 
if  we  may  at  all  suppose  successive  periods  of  deposit, 
these  periods  must  have  occurred  in  the  order  we  have 
described  ;  and  the  existence  of  peculiar  forms  of  organ- 
ized beings,  connected  respectively  with  these  periods, 
while  it  strangely  excites  curiosity,  and  gives  a  very  deep 
and  mysterious  interest  to  the  subject,  by  opening,  as 
it  were,  a  glimpse  into  former  worlds,  cannot  readily  be 
accounted  for  in  any  other  way  than  by  the  hypothesis  of 
successive  epochs  and  successive  creations.  If,  indeed, 
the  plants  and  animals  of  one  formation  were  found  inter- 
mingled with  those  of  another,  there  might  be  some  ground 
for  hesitation.  But  this  is  not  the  case  ;  and,  what  is 
particularly  worthy  of  remark,  it  appears  that  the  whole 
individuals  of  the  organized  beings,  which  existed  during 
those  primeval  periods,  had  been  destroyed  before  the 
era  of  the  Mosaic  creation,  none  of  such  species  being  in 
existence  at  the  present  day. 

What  a  surprising,  and  at  the  same  time  consistent, 
view  does  this  present  of  the  operations  of  the  Eternal 
Mind.  We  have  been  accustomed  to  think  of  the  Self- 
existent  Being  as  only  beginning  to  exert  his  creative 
energies,  within  the  last  six  thousand  years,  when  our 
globe  was  brought  out  of  a  state  of  chaos,  and  the  human 
race  was  formed.  But  it  is  natural  for  the  inquiring  mind 
to  ask,  if  it  be  indeed  true  that  an  eternity  had  passed 
before  the  Almighty  displayed  His  perfections  by  calling 
worlds  into  existence,  and  exercising  over  them  that 
paternal  care  which  is  so  conspicuous  and  so  endearing  in 
the  present  state  of  things.  This  inquiry  we  may  not  be 
able  satisfactorily  to  answer  ;  but  it  is  undoubtedly  a  step 
towards  the  solution  of  the  question,  to  discover,  that  the 
materials  of  which  the  present  earth  is  composed,  have 
been  employed  by  the  Creator,  in  previous  periods,  of 
unknown  but  vast  duration,  in  the  formation  of  other 
worlds,  of  which  other  beings,  strangers  to  the  existing 
earth,  were  denizens  ;  and  we  seem  to  acquire  a  more 
sublime  idea  of  the  Divine  perfections,  when  we  think 
of  those  primeval  times,  "  in  which  plants  and  flowers, 
now  totally  unknown,  adorned  the  face  of  nature,  and 


358  GEOLOGY. SUCCESSIVE  PERIODS   OF 

rose  to  luxuriance  under  warmer  suns  ;  in  which  animals 
of  different  forms  and  species,  roamed  the  woods  and 
forests  ;  and  in  which  the  ocean  rolled  its  billows,  and 
the  finny  tribes  found  food  and  enjoyment,  where  now 
fertile  fields  wave  with  grain,  and  the  lofty  trees  of  the 
forest  throw  their  boughs  toward  heaven,  and  man  and 
beast  tread  the  solid  ground."* 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— TUESDAY. 

III.      GEOLOGY. SUCCESSIVE     PERIODS     OF     ORGANIZED     EX- 
ISTENCES. 

IF  the  view  of  our  modern  geologists,  which  I  have 
adopted,  be  correct,  there  is  something  exceedingly  inter- 
esting, and  certainly,  as  I  have  already  observed,  not  in- 
consistent with  the  character  of  the  Creator,  as  we  read 
it  inscribed  on  His  works,  in  the  gradual  developement  of 
the  powers  of  Nature,  and  in  the  adaptation  of  living  be- 
ings to  the  progress  of  that  developement.  u  In  the  be- 
ginning," the  earth  was,  according  to  this  hypothesis, 
created  a  mass  of  inert  matter,  perhaps  in  a  liquid  state 
from  excessive  heat,  but  crystallizing  as  it  cooled,  till  the 
whole  crust  of  the  globe  was  comprised  in  the  two  great 
divisions  of  sea  and  crystallized  rocks,  surrounded  with 
an  atmosphere.  This  was  its  primitive  state  ;  and  under 
these  circumstances,  neither  vegetables  nor  animals  could 
exist ;  but,  being  intended  for  the  habitation  of  living  be- 
ings, the  powers  inherent  in  matter  were  employed  in 
breaking  down,  abrading,  and  disuniting  the  harder  sub- 
stances, so  as  to  form  soil  fit  for  the  maintenance  of  vege- 
table produce  ;  and  thus,  in  process  of  time,  it  passed 
into  the  transition  state.  No  sooner  was  the  globe,  to 
this  extent,  prepared,  than  vegetables  were  created  by 

*  Study  of  Nature,  p.  202. 


ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES.  359 

the  Almighty  Hand  ;  and  food  being  thus  produced  for 
living  creatures,  these  also  were  called  into  being,  with 
faculties  and  endowments  admirably  fitted  for  the  earth,  as 
it  then  was. 

Still  the  process  of  decomposition  and  crumbling  down 
went  on,  till  the  world  became  fitted  for  a  new  change. 
A  catastrophe,  therefore,  took  place,  by  which  all  organ- 
ized existences  were  destroyed  and  submerged ;  and,  by 
a  most  wonderful  provision,  these  were  laid  up  in  store- 
houses, as  it  were,  below  the  surface,  for  the  future  use 
of  the  rational  creatures  which  were,  in  the  succession  of 
ages,  to  be  created,  being  meanwhile,  by  pressure  and 
disintegration,  converted,  the  marine  productions  into  lime, 
and  the  produce  of  the  land  into  coal.  And  now, a  new 
operation  of  creative  wisdom  takes  place.  More  nour- 
ishing qualities  have  been  infused  into  the  waters  of  the 
sea,  and  the  surface  of  the  earth  has  acquired  more  fer- 
tile powers,  by  which  the  whole  globe  is  fitted  for  the 
maintenance  of  higher  species  of  plants  and  animals. 
They  are  accordingly  produced.  A  more  noble  and 
luxuriant  vegetation  clothes  the  face  of  the  earth.  Liv- 
ing creatures  of  gigantic  proportions  swim  in  the  ocean, 
or  frequent  the  vast  swamps  and  marshes  which  compose 
its  shores,  or  feed  among  the  mighty  palms  and  ferns  which 
spring  up  on  the  elevated  grounds.  But  the  wonderful 
plan  formed  in  the  Eternal  Mind  is  not  yet  completed. 
Another  period  elapses,  in  which  further,  changes  have 
been  going  on,  and  continued  preparations  have  been  mak- 
ing. At  length  new  epochs  arrive,  and  new  catastrophes 
take  place.  Again  and  again  the  surface  of  the  globe  is 
broken  up  ;  its  vegetable  and  animal  productions  are  again 
and  again  entombed,  to  add  to  the  stores  of  the  higher 
race  destined  to  appear  in  a  new  era  and  a  renovated 
world. 

Last  of  all,  the  time  arrives,  when  the  globe  is  fitted 
for  a  race  of  rational  creatures.  "  The  earth  is  without 
form,  and  void."  The  elements  are  commixed  ;  and 
thickest  darkness  broods  over  the  profound  abyss.  God 
speaks  ;  it  is  light,,  and  the  clouds  ascend.  He  speaks 
again ;  the  solid  foundations  of  the  world  are  disturbed  ; 


360  GEOLOGY. SUCCESSIVE  PERIODS   OF 

an  irresistible  force  heaves  the  ancient  granite  from  its 
bed,  causing  it  to  shake  off  the  superincumbent  strata 
which  ages  had  formed,  and  to  throw  aloft  its  rugged 
peaks,  till  they  threaten  to  penetrate  the  sky.  The 
waters  subside,  and  are  gathered  together.  An  effectual 
separation  is  thus  made  between  the  seas  and  the  dry  land, 
and  a  new  character  is  given  to  the  earth's  surface,  which 
fits  it  for  its  coming  destiny.*  Once  more  the  Creator 
utters  his  voice.  "  The  earth  brings  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit. "  Yet  again 
the  command  is  issued,  and  the  clearing  atmosphere  gives 
free  admittance  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars. f  Thus  is  the  world  once  more  prepared,  as  the 

*  "  It  is  marvellous  that  mankind  should  have  gone  on  for  so  many 
centuries  in  ignorance  of  the  fact,  which  is  now  so  fully  demonstrated, 
that  no  small  part  of  the  present  surface  of  the  earth  is  derived  from  the 
remains  of  animals,  that  constituted  the  population  of  the  ancient  seas. 
Many  extensive  plains  and  massive  mountains  form,  as  it  were,  the  great 
charnel-houses  of  preceding  generations,  in  which  the  petrified  exuviae 
of  extinct  races  of  animals  and  vegetables  are  piled  into  stupendous  mon- 
uments of  the  operations  of  life  and  death,  during  almost  immeasurable 
periods  of  past  time."  "  *  At  the  sight  of  a  spectacle,'  says  Cuvier,  '  so 
imposing,  so  terrible  as  that  of  the  wreck  of  animal  life,  forming  almost 
the  entire  soil  on  which  we  tread,  it  is  difficult  to  restrain  the  imagina- 
tion from  hazarding  some  conjectures  as  to  the  causes  by  which  such 
great  effects  have  been  produced.'  " — Buckland^s  Bridgewater  Trea- 
tise, p.  112. 

t  Speaking  of  the  14th,  and  four  succeeding  verses  of  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  Dr.  Buckland,  in  agreement  with  what  is  stated  in  the  text, 
thus  argues  : — **  What  is  herein  stated  of  the  celestial  luminaries,  seems 
to  be  spoken  solely  with  reference  to  our  planet,  and  more  especially  to 
the  human  race,  then  about  to  be  placed  upon  it.  We  are  not  told  that 
the  substance  of  the  sun  and  moon  were  first  called  into  existence  upon 
the  fourth  day.  The  text  may  equally  imply  that  these  bodies  were 
then  prepared,  and  appointed  to  certain  offices  of  high  importance  to 
mankind  :  *  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day,  and 
over  the  night ; '  '  to  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  for 
years.'  The  fact  of  the  creation  had  been  stated  before  in  the  first 
verse.  The  stars  also  are  mentioned,  (Gen.  i.  16,)  in  three  words  only, 
almost  parenthetically,  as  if  for  the  sole  purpose  of  announcing  that  they 
also  were  made  by  the  same  Power  as  those  luminaries  which  are  more 
important  to  us — the  sun  and  the  moon.  The  interpretation  here  pro- 
posed seems,  moreover,  to  solve  the  difficulty  which  would  otherwise 
attend  the  statement  of  the  appearance  of  light  on  the  first  day,  while 
the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  were  not  made  to  appear  until  the  fourth. 
If  we  suppose  all  the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  earth  to  have  been  created 


ORGANIZED   EXISTENCES.  361 

residence  of  living  beings  ;  and  they  are  created.  The 
broad-spread  sea  and  swelling  earth  teem  with  animation; 
and,  last  of  all,  Man  is  formed  in  the  image  of  God.  His 
Creator  "  breathes  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
he  becomes  a  living  soul ;" — the  lord  of  this  nether  sphere 
stands  confessed. 

Such  is  the  progress  which,  according  to  modem  geol- 
ogy, corrected  by  the  lights  of  Scripture,  has  formed  the 
earliest  history  of  creation.  The  system,  perhaps,  de- 
serves no  higher  name  than  that  of  a  theory  ;  but  it  is  a 
beautiful  and  consistent  theory,  which  accounts  for  many 
facts,  and  is  contradicted,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  none.  It 
is  exceedingly  gratifying  to  human  genius  to  have  thus 
found  the  means  of  penetrating  beyond  the  darkness  of 
ancient  chaos,  and  the  confusion  of  mingled  elements  ;  and 
it  is  not  less  instructive  than  gratifying,  to  be  able  to  trace, 
even  in  these  mysterious  primeval  times,  the  designing 
hand  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Goodness  ;  to  see  the  very 
same  character  impressed  on  the  works  of  the  Creator,  in 
such  incalculably  remote  periods,  which  we  mark  with  so 
much  delight  in  the  history  of  the  world,  since  that  latest 
epoch,  in  which  the  human  race  was  formed,  the  chief  of 
His  terrestrial  works  ;  and  in  which  subordinate  organ- 
ized beings,  in  a  scale  descending  by  almost  imperceptible 
links,  till  they  become  confounded  with  inanimate  matter, 
were  associated  with  them. 

One  objection  I  anticipate.  Why,  it  may  naturally  be 
asked,  this  progression  and  long  delay  ?  Why  was  that 
Infinite  Power  not  put  forth  at  once,  which  was  to  form 
the  world  in  its  highest  state  of  perfection  ?  Could  not 
the  same  Almighty  power,  which,  according  to  this  the- 
ory, formed  the  earth  an  inert  mass,  and  left  the  devel- 

at  the  indefinitely  distant  time  designated  by  the  word  *  beginning,'  and 
that  the  darkness  described  on  the  evening  of  the  first  day,  was  a 
temporary  darkness,  produced  by  an  accumulation  of  dense  vapors 
'  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,'  an  incipient  dispersion  of  these  vapors  may 
have  readmitted  light  to  the  earth,  upon  the  first  day,  while  the  exciting 
cause  of  light  was  still  obscured  ;  and  the  further  purification  of  the  at- 
mosphere, upon  the  fourth  day,  may  have  caused  the  sun  and  moon  and 
stars  to  reappear  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  to  assume  their  new  rela- 
tions to  the  newly  modified  earth,  and  to  the  human  race." 

i.  31  vn. 


362  GEOLOGY. 

opement  of  its  productive  qualities  to  a  succession  of  ages, 
have  called  it  into  being,  in  all  its  glory,  by  a  single  word  ? 
Undoubtedly  it  could  ;  and  the  reason  of  a  different  mode 
of  operation  may  be  inscrutable  by  the  human  mind.  But 
who  does  not  see  that  such  progression  is  in  accordance 
with  the  usual  analogy  of  the  Divine  operations  ;  and  that 
the  very  same  objection  might  be  urged  against  the  pro- 
gress of  society  in  the  arts  and  in  civilization  ;  against  the 
gradual  unfolding  of  the  eternal  decrees  in  the  history  of 
revealed  religion ;  against  the  slow  growth  of  an  oak ;  or 
against  the  tardy  expansion  of  the  human  powers  through 
the  various  stages  of  infancy,  youth,  and  manhood.  Time 
is,  even  with  man,  but  a  relative  term.  In  the  counsels 
of  Him,  with  whom  £  c  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  one 
day,"  it  dwindles  to  a  point. 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

IV.   GEOLOGY. STATE-OF  THE  ANTEDILUVIAN  WORLD. 

THE  arrangements  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  in  its 
antediluvian  state,  were,  doubtless,  in  many  respects, 
different  from  what  they  are  at  present.  I  do  not  allude 
to  its  state  as  it  came  first  from  the  hands  of  its  Creator, 
when  all  things  bore  the  recent  impress  of  a  Divine  Hand, 
when  Paradise  bloomed,  and  the  gentle  air  breathed 
balm,  and,  on  the  young  vegetable  and  animal  world,  the 
blessing  of  a  benignant  Heaven  shed  peace,  grandeur,  and 
loveliness ;  but  I  speak  of  it  after  the  Deity  had  fitted  it 
for  the  habitation  of  a  fallen  and  guilty  race,  who  were  to 
earn  their  subsistence  amidst  toil  and  care,  strangers  and 
pilgrims  on  their  native  earth,  and  under  training,  by  a 
course  of  discipline,  for  new  states  of  existence  in  another 
sphere. 

Of  the  actual  condition  of  the  antediluvian  world,  we 
have  scarcely  any  recorded  materials  from  which  we  can 


STATE   OF  THE  ANTEDILUVIAN  WORLD.  363 

draw  correct  geological  conclusions.  We  are  informed, 
however,  that  the  life  of  man  extended  to  a  period  of 
tenfold  greater  duration  than  it  does  at  present,  which 
indicates  a  much  greater  salubrity  of  the  atmosphere  ; 
and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the  organic  remains  of  that 
first  period  of  the  human  history,  correspond  with  this 
indication.  The  state  of  the  air  and  of  the  seasons,  which 
was  so  healthful  for  man,  may  readily  be  supposed  to 
have  been  equally  favorable  to  the  nourishment  of  other 
organized  existences ;  and  if  we  are  to  look  for  proofs 
from  geology,  to  confirm  the  assertion  of  the  sacred  vol- 
ume on  this  point,  we  must  seek  for  it  in  a  greater  luxu- 
riance in  the  growth  of  plants  and  animals.  Man,  himself, 
who  seems  not  to  have  arrived  at  the  period  of  puberty 
before  sixty  or  seventy  years  of  age,  was  probably  of 
superior  stature, — a  conjecture  which  is  confirmed  by  the 
existence  of  giants,  as  we  are  expressly  assured,  both 
before  the  flood,  and  for  some  time  after  it.  However 
this  may  be,  it  is  remarkable,  that  we  have  undoubted 
proofs,  from  antediluvian  remains,  that  many  of  the  organ- 
ized existences  of  that  period  were  of  much  greater  di- 
mensions than  are  now  to  be  found,  either  in  the  vegetable 
or  animal  kingdoms.  Tropical  plants  seem  to  have  spread 
over  our  temperate  regions  in  great  luxuriance  of  vegeta- 
tion, and  among  animals  there  are  found,  in  these  regions, 
some  of  immense  proportions,  whose  species  are  now 
extinct,  or,  if  still  existing,  as  in  the  case  of  the  tapir, 
are  greatly  diminished  in  size.  From  these  facts,  we 
have  evidence  that  the  antediluvian  climate  was  peculiarly 
genial,  and  therefore  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find 
that  it  was  far  more  favorable  to  human  life,  than  the  at- 
mosphere in  which  we  at  present  exist.* 

*  In  this  view  of  the  superior  salubrity  of  the  antediluvian  climate, 
the  author  is  directly  opposed  to  the  speculations  of  Bishop  Sherlock, 
who  imagines  that  the  curse  pronounced  on  the  ground  rested  upon  it, 
"  in  all  its  rigor,  only  till  the  flood,  up  to  which  period  it  rendered 
the  work  and  toil  necessary  to  raise  from  the  ground  a  sufficient  sup- 
port for  life,  a  grievous  and  irksome  burden  ;"  but  that,  after  this  ca- 
tastrophe, that  part  of  the  curse  which  referred  to  the  soil  was  removed, 
and  the  world  was,  in  this  respect,  restored  to  its  primeval  beauty  and 
fertility.  This  strange  notion  rests  for  its  support  on  two  texts  of  Scrip- 


364  GEOLOGY. 

In  another  respect,  too,  the  aspect  of  the  antediluvian 
world  must  have  been  considerably  different  from  its 
present  state.  Since  that  early  period,  a  deluge  has 
swept  over  its  surface  with  tremendous  force,  levelling 
hills,  filling  up  valleys,  scooping  out  ravines,  altering 
the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  blotting  out,  perhaps,  whole 
continents  from  the  map  of  the  world,  while  it  raised  oth- 
ers in  their  place.  By  the  action  of  this  great  catastro- 
phe, very  large  additions  must  have  been  made  to  the 
productive  soil  of  the  earth,  from  the  effects  of  detrition  ; 
but  even  then  the  soil  appears  to  have  been  abundant,  at 
least  in  many  and  extensive  portions  of  the  globe  ;  and, 
whatever  changes  have  been  made,  of  which  we  shall 
speak  more  particularly  in  another  paper,  the  general 
character  of  the  terraqueous  globe,  and  its  inhabitants, 
must  have  been,  with  the  exceptions  already  hinted  at, 

ture,  the  first  of  which  is  the  reason  given  by  Lamech  for  naming  his 
firstborn  son  Noah,  which  means  comfort,  viz.  "  This  same  shall  com- 
fort us  concerning  our  work  and  toil  of  our  hands,  because  of  the  ground 
which  the  Lord  hath  cursed,"  (Gen.  v.  29.)  Those  who  have  noted 
the  custom  which  prevailed  from  the  earliest  times,  of  recording  a  rea- 
son for  the  naming  of  children  at  or  soon  after  their  birth,  will  scarcely 
see  in  this  passage  any  thing  more  than  the  delight  and  pious  gratitude 
of  a  father,  for  the  gift  of  a  son  who  should  assist  him  in  his  agricultural 
labors.  The  Bible  is  full  of  similar  birthday  sayings  ;  thus  Eve  called 
her  firstborn  son  Cain,  which  signifies  gotten,  for  she  said, "  I  have 
gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord  ;"  and  when,  after  the  murder  of  Abel,  she 
had  another  son,  she  called  him  Seth,  which  signifies  appointed.  "  For 
God,"  said  she,  "  hath  appointed  me  another  seed,  instead  of  Abel, 
whom  Cain  slew."  Many  other  instances  might  be  mentioned. 

The  other  text,  on  which  Sherlock  builds  his  theory,  can  scarcely  be 
considered  of  greater  weight.  It  is  the  promise  contained  in  the  two 
last  verses  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  Genesis.  *'  I  will  not  again  curse 
the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake,  neither  will  I  again  smite  any  more 
every  thing  living  as  I  have  done.  While  the  earth  remaineth,  seed- 
time and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter,  and  day 
and  night,  shall  not  cease."  The  Bishop  argues  that  these  words  inti- 
mate the  removal  of  the  curse,  and  the  restoration  of  a  greater  stability 
of  the  seasons  ;  but  surely  this  is  an  unwarranted  stretch  of  the  mean- 
ing of  a  text  which  simply  declares  that  no  such  calamity  as  the  flood 
shall  ever  again  visit  the  earth.  The  vigor  of  the  human  constitution 
in  the  antediluvian  ages,  which  is  distinctly  asserted,  is  alone  sufficient 
to  overturn  the  Bishop's  theory  ;  and  the  same  thing  seems  to  follow 
from  the  fact,  that  the  gift  of  animal  food  was  not  added  to  that  of  vege- 
tables, till  after  the  flood, — an  indication  of  the  superior  fertility  and 
abundance,  in  the  earliest  ages,  of  plants  fit  for  human  subsistence. 


STATE   OF  THE  ANTEDILUVIAN  WORLD.  365 

nearly  the  same  as  at  present.  There  was  not  only  an 
abundant  vegetation  on  its  suface,  but  there  were  metals 
(brass  and  iron)  which  the  labor  of  man  could  reach,  and 
his  ingenuity  could  convert  to  his  use.  Fire  must  have 
been  employed  in  smelting  and  manufacturing  these  met- 
als ;  and,  from  the  slight  hints  which  the  sacred  historian 
affords,  it  would  appear,  that  the  domestic  arrangements 
of  families  could  not  have  greatly  differed  from  our  own. 
This  may  suffice  as  a  rapid  introduction  to  the  changes 
which  I  shall  next  have  occasion  to  notice — those  which 
were  occasioned  by  the  universal  Deluge.  Meanwhile, 
what  a  wonderful  period  have  we  been  surveying  ! — a 
new  world  of  organized  beings  has  been  created,  and  has 
perished.  It  came  fair  and  perfect  from  the  hands  of  its 
Creator.  Throughout  its  whole  bounds,  there  was  no 
evil,  no  deformity,  no  death.  The  eye  of  the  Almighty, 
as  He  beheld  His  work,  "saw  that  it  was  good."  But 
the  adversary  and  destroyer  came.  By  a  mysterious 
providence,  he  was  permitted  to  prevail.  Moral  evil  was 
introduced  into  the  rational  creation,  and  a  new  order  of 
things  arose.  Man  waxed  more  and  more  rebellious,  till 
the  whole  world  was  filled  with  violence,  and  the  meas- 
ure of  his  iniquity  being  full,  the  sentence  came  forth 
from  the  Creator, — u  Behold  !  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a 
flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to  destroy  all  flesh,  where- 
in is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven  ;  and  every 
thing  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die."  How  mysterious 
was  the  forbearance  which  permitted  the  rebellion,  but 
how  just  was  the  judgement  which  punished  it ! 


31* 


366  GEOLOGY. 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— THURSDAY. 

V.   GEOLOGY. INDICATIONS  OF  THE    ACTION  OF  THE  DELUGE 

AT  THE  PERIOD  ASSIGNED  TO  IT  IN  SCRIPTURE. 

I  AM  now  to  consider  the  geological  indications  of  that 
universal  Deluge,  by  which  a  new  epoch  was  formed  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  and  by  which,  while  the  in- 
creasing wickedness  of  the  human  race,  then  existing, 
was  visited  by  the  Divine  Governor  with  a  signal  dis- 
play of  His  displeasure,  a  new  order  of  things  was  pre- 
pared. 

The  account  which  the  sacred  historian  gives  of  this 
awful  event,  is,  that  "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  open- 
ed. And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty 
nights.  And  the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the 
earth  ;  and  all  the  high  hills,  that  were  under  the  whole 
heaven,were  covered.  And  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon 
the  earth,  both  of  fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast,  and 
of  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth, 
and  every  man  :  and  Noah  only  remained  alive,  and  they 
that  were  with  him  in  the  ark.  And  the  waters  prevailed 
upon  the  earth  an  nundred  and  fifty  days."  It  appears 
further  from  the  Divine  record,  that  in  the  sixth  month 
from  the  commencement  of  the  catastrophe,  the  waters 
began  to  subside  ;  and  that,  at  the  end  of  a  year,  the  seas 
were  collected,  or  rapidly  collecting,  into  their  present 
channels,  and  the  earth  had  become  so  dry,  at  least  in 
the  higher  grounds,  as  to  be  again  fit  for  the  habitation 
of  living  creatures. 

It  has  been  too  justly  alleged,  that  there  is  a  tendency 
to  skepticism  in  the  minds  of  scientific  men;  that,  wheth- 
er it  be  from  a  pride  of  understanding,  which  induces 
them  to  look  down  with  contempt  on  the  opinions  of  the 
vulgar,  or  from  a  consciousness  of  enlarged  ideas,  which 


INDICATIONS   OF   THE   DELUGE.  367 

inclines  them  to  distrust,  as  contracted  or  superstitious, 
the  views  they  have  acquired  in  the  nursery  and  in  their 
elementary  schools  of  instruction,  they  frequently  feel  a 
pleasure  in  adopting  views,  and  maintaining  principles, 
at  variance  with  revealed  truth.  At  all  events,  the  Mo- 
saic account  of  the  deluge,  as  well  as  of  the  creation,  was 
certainly  received  with  incredulity  by  those  individuals 
who,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  took  the 
lead  in  geological  investigations  ;  and  I  am  by  no  means 
sure,  that  this  reproach  does  not  still  attach  to  many  who 
affect  the  name  of  philosophical  inquirers.  Brydone 
endeavored  to  throw  doubt  on  the  Scriptural  account, 
by  an  allegation, (which  was  completely  overturned,  how- 
ever, by  subsequent  discoveries,)  regarding  the  time 
requisite  for  converting  lava  into  Vegetable  soil,  which 
would  have  given  an  antiquity  to  the  earth's  present  sur- 
face, far  beyond  the  period  of  the  flood  ;  and  Bailly 
used,  for  the  same  purpose,  and  with  similar  success,  the 
false  and  vainglorious  chronology  of  the  Hindoos. 

Happily,  however,  a  philosopher  of  a  different  stamp 
has  arisen,  who,  rigidly  questioning  Nature,  without  ref- 
erence to  any  preconceived  opinion,  and  without  regard, 
I  believe,  even  to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  has  come 
to  the  conclusion,  that  the  appearances  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  indicate  the  origin  of  its  present  state,  as  hav- 
ing taken  its  date  at  a  period  corresponding,  with  won- 
derful exactness,  to  the  Mosaic  account.  The  words  in 
which  M.  Cuvier  states  this  satisfactory  opinion,  are  suf- 
ficiently pointed  and  precise.  "  I  conclude,7'  he  ob- 
serves, "  with  MM.  Deluc  and  Dolomieu,  that, -if  there 
be  any  fact  well  established  in  geology,  it  is  this,  that  the 
surface  of  our  globe  has  suffered  a  great  and  sudden  rev- 
olution, the  period  of  which  cannot  be  dated  further  back 
than  five  thousand  or  six  thousand  years.  This  revolu- 
tion has,  on  the  one  hand,  engulphed,  and  caused  to  dis- 
appear, the  countries  formerly  inhabited  by  men,  and  the 
animal  species  at  present  best  known  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
has  laid  bare  the  bottom  of  the  last  ocean,  thus  convert- 
ing its  channel  into  the  now  habitable  earth."* 

*  That  the  Supreme  Being,  not  only  in  the  ordinary  course  of  His 


368  GEOLOGY. 

A  rapid  statement  of  the  principles  on  which  Cuvier 
founds  his  reasoning,  may  suffice  to  show,  that  it  does 
not  rest  on  mere  theoretical  views,  but  is  based  on  incon- 
trovertible facts. 

It  is  well  known,  that  great  and  constant  changes 
are  going  on  in  the  surface  of  the  earth,  by  the  decom- 
posing power  of  the  atmosphere,  by  the  effects  of  rain 
and  of  frost,  by  the  decay  of  vegetation,  by  the  fall  of 
forests,  by  the  shifting  and  accumulation  of  sand  drifted 
with  the  wind,  and  by  the  continual  course  and  occasion- 
al overflowing  of  rivers  and  mountain  torrents.  The  ef- 
fects of  these  .agents  are  indeed  slow,  but  they  are  con- 
stantly progressive.  They  prove,  as  I  have  previously 
stated,  that  the  present  condition  of  the  world  has  not 
been  eternal,  because,  in  the  revolution  of  countless 
ages,  the  earth  would,  by  such  means,  be  necessarily  re- 
duced to  a  level ;  or  rather,  the  whole  land,  being  carried 
into  the  sea,  would  be  submerged  and  overflowed  by  the 
water.  Now,  the  rate  at  which  these  changes  proceed, 
may  be  subjected  to  calculation  ;  and  this  is  what  Cuvier 
has  actually  effected.  He  examined  the  progress  of  ac- 
cumulations at  the  mouths  of  rivers,  at  the  bottoms  of 
lakes,  and  in  valleys  ;  he  formed  an  estimate  of  the  rate 
at  which  rocks  and  mountains  crumble,  and  sand,  drifted 
from  the  sea,  where  it  is  formed,  spreads  into  downs,  and 

providence,  but  even  when  He  interferes  to  execute  judgement,  gener- 
ally makes  use  of  second  causes,  seems  to  be  admitted.  In  the  case 
of  the  Deluge,  He  probably  did  not  deviate  beyond  what  is  stated  in  the 
Sacred  Volume,  from  this  usual  mode  of  operation,  and  human  cu- 
riosity has  led  to  the  inquiry  by  what  natural  powers  the  flood  was  ef- 
fected. That  there  are  agents  in  Nature  quite  sufficient,  in  point  of  force 
and  extent,  to  produce  the  effects  described,  cannot  be  doubted.  The 
most  obvious  of  these  is  thus  stated  by  Dr.  Fitton,  in  his  *  Geological 
Sketch  of  the  Vicinity  of  Hastings.'  "The  evidence  in  proof  of  great 
and  frequent  movements  of  the  land  itself,  both  by  protrusion  and  subsi- 
dence, and  of  the  connexion  of  these  movements  with  the  operation 
of  volcanoes,  is  so  various  and  so  strong,  derived  from  so  many  quarters 
on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  every  day  so  much  extended  by  recent 
inquiry,  as  almost  to  demonstrate  that  these  have  been  the  causes  by 
which  those  great  revolutions  were  effected  :  and,  although  the  action 
of  the  inward  forces  which  protrude  the  land,  has  varied  greatly  in  dif- 
ferent countries,  and  at  different  periods,  they  are  now,  and  ever  have 
been,  incessantly  at  work  in  operating  present  change,  and  preparing  the 
way  for  future  alteration  in  the  exterior  of  the  globe." — Pages  85,  86. 


369 

encroaches  on  the  vegetable  soil ;  and  he  considered  the 
amount  of  detrition  which  takes  place  in  ravines,  and  in 
the  bottom  and  banks  of  rivers.  All  these  causes  of 
change  he  investigated  with  his  own  characteristic  acute- 
ness  ;  and  he  and  his  associates,  in  carrying  back  their 
calculations,  found  that  they  all  united  in  pointing  to  a 
period  when  they  commenced  their  united  operations, 
which,  as  he  states,  u  cannot  be  dated  further  back  than 
five  thousand  or  six  thousand  years."  In  other  words, 
it  appears  as  the  result  of  these  investigations,  that  the 
present  surface  of  the  earth  cannot  have  been  more  than 
that  number  of  years  in  existence. 

It  wTould  seem,  from  what  this  philosopher  states, 
when  he  gives  a  more  specific  account  of  his  investiga- 
tions, that,  in  naming  these  round  numbers,  he  carries  his 
concessions  to  the  most  extreme  verge  of  possibility;  and 
that  his  own  settled  opinion  is,  that  the  Mosaic  account, 
which  fixes  the  era  of  the  flood  at  the  distance  of  little 
more  than  four  thousand  years  from  the  present  time,  is 
borne  out  with  remarkable  accuracy.  In  another  part, 
afterwards  quoted,  he  expressly  says,  "  Geology  ap- 
prizes us,  that,  of  the  various  revolutions  which  have 
agitated  our  globe,  the  last  evidently  corresponds  to  the 
period  which  is  assigned  to  the  Deluge  ;"  and  he  dis- 
tinctly states  four  thousand  years  as  the  period  indicated  by 
the  alluvial  deposits. 

We  shall,  to-morrow,  give  an  example  or  two  of  the 
manner  in  which  Cuvier  conducted  his  inquiries  on  this 
important  and  most  interesting  subject. 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— FRIDAY. 

VI.      GEOLOGY. CUVIER'S     CALCULATION     RESPECTING     THE 

DELUGE. 

IT  is  so  desirable  to  remove  skeptical  doubts,  as  to 
the  actual  occurrence  of  the  Deluge,  that  we  cannot  leave 


370          GEOLOGY. — CUVIER'S  CALCULATION 

this  subject  without  stating  a  few  further  geological  facts, 
which  show  the  coincidence  of  actual  observation  with 
the  declaration  of  Scripture.  As  an  example  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  inquiries  respecting  the  date  at 
which  the  present  surface  of  the  earth  was  formed,  have 
been  conducted  by  Cuvier,  and  other  geologists  who 
adopt  his  views,  it  may  be  interesting  to  quote  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  that  distinguished  philosopher's 
'Theory  of  the  Earth.' 

u  M.  de  Raney,  a  learned  member  of  the  Institute, 
inspector-general  of  bridges  and  roads,  has  communicated 
to  me  some  observations,  which  are  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, as  explaining  those  changes  that  have  taken 
place  along  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  Having  been 
directed  by  government  to  investigate  the  remedies  that 
might  be  applied  to  the  devastations  occasioned  by  the 
floods  of  the  Po,  he  ascertained  that  this  river,  since  the 
period  that  it  was  shut  up  by  dykes,  has  so  greatly  raised 
the  level  of  its  bottom,  that  the  surface  of  its  waters  is 
now  higher  than  the  roofs  of  the  houses  in  Ferrara.  At 
the  same  time,  its  alluvial  depositions  have  advanced  so 
rapidly  into  the  sea,  that,  by  comparing  old  charts  with 
the  present  state,  the  shore  is  found  to  have  gained  more 
than  six  thousand  fathoms  since  1604,  giving  an  average 
of  a  hundred  and  sixty  or  a  hundred  and  eighty,  and,  in 
some  places,  two  hundred  feet  yearly.  The  Adige  and 
the  Po  are,  at  the  present  day,  higher  than  the  whole 
tract  of  land  that  lies  between  them  ;  and  it  is  only  by 
opening  new  channels  for  them  in  the  low  grounds  which 
they  have  formerly  deposited,  that  the  disasters  which 
they  now  threaten  may  be  averted. 

u  The  same  causes  have  produced  the  same  effects 
along  the  branches  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse  ;  and 
thus  the  richest  districts  of  Holland  have  continually  the 
frightful  view  of  their  rivers  held  up  by  embankments,  at 
a  height  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  land." 

We  have  here  a  curious  example  of  the  kind  and 
amount  of  detrition  by  which,  in  the  course  of  years,  the 
higher  grounds  are  worn  down  to  fill  up  valleys,  and  to 


RESPECTING  THE  DELUGE.  371 

extend  into  the  sea,  and  facts  of  a  similar  kind  are  every 
where  familiar  to  the  geological  inquirer. 

Mr.  Fairholme,  in  his  'Geology  of  Scripture,'  gives 
a  striking  account  of  the  manner  in  which  a  fresh  water 
lake  has  been  encroached  on  by  the  land  in  the  course 
of  a  century,  which  illustrates  the  same  kind  of  natural 
action  as  that  above-mentioned,  on  which  Cuvier  founds 
his  calculations,  although,  in  the  instance  given,  that  ac- 
tion was  assisted  by  the  interference  of  art.  Speaking 
of  the  Kander,  a  mountain  torrent  of  no  great  size  in  the 
Canton  of  Berne,  he  says,  that  in  consequence  of  the 
mischief  done  by  the  overflowing  of  that  river,  to  a  great 
extent  of  valuable  meadow  land,  in  its  course  to  join  the 
Aar,  ten  miles  below  the  Thun,  which  was  its  natural 
course,  a  spirited  plan  was,  about  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  proposed  and  adopted  for  cutting  a  subterrane- 
ous passage  for  the  river  through  a  ridge,  at  a  place 
where  it  approached  the  lake.  The  descent  was  rapid, 
and  the  torrent  in  a  few  years  enlarged  its  course,  till  at 
length  the  whole  superstructure  gave  way  and  fell  in. 
The  effects  of  this,  soon  became  apparent  in  the  lake. 
An  immense  quantity  of  gravel  and  stones  was  carried 
in  by  the  current,  and  lodged  in  its  bed  ;  and  by  this 
means  a  new  formation  took  place  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  which,  in  1829,  being  little  more  than  a  century, 
had  u  produced  a  secondary  bed  of  mixed  materials,  of 
fully  three  hundred  acres,  and  at  least  one  hundred  feet 
in  depth."* 

This  remarkable  formation  took  place  under  peculiar 
circumstances  ;  but  all  rivers  are  actively  employed  in 
effecting  similar  changes,  to  an  extent  of  which  those 
who  have  not  attended  to  the  subject  are  little  aware. 
Major  Rennel  and  Major  Colebrooke  calculate  that  the 
waters  of  the  Ganges  contain,  in  the  season  of  flood,  one 
part  in  four  of  mud,  on  which  Mr.  Lyell  remarks,  "  We 
are  somewhat  staggered  by  the  results  to  which  we  must 
arrive,  if  we  compare  the  proportion  of  mud  as  given  by 
Rennel,  with  his  computation  of  the  quantity  of  water 

*  p.  124. 


372          GEOLOGY. — CUVIER'S  CALCULATION 

discharged,  which  latter  is  probably  very  correct.  If  it 
be  true  that  the  Ganges,  in  the  flood  season,  contains  one 
part  in  four  of  mud,  we  shall  then  be  obliged  to  suppose 
that  there  passes  down,  every  four  days,  a  quantity  of 
mud  equal  in  volume  to  the  water  which  is  discharged 
in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours.  If  the  mud  be  as- 
sumed to  be  equal  to  one  half  the  specific  gravity  of 
granite,  (it  would,  however,  be  more,)  the  weight  of  mat- 
ter daily  carried  down  in  the  flood  season  would  be  about 
equal  to  seventy-four  times  the  weight  of  the  great  pyra- 
mid of  Egypt.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  turbid 
waters  of  the  Ganges  contain  one  part  in  a  hundred  of 
mud,  which  is  possible,  and  which  is  affirmed  to  be  the 
case  in  regard  to  the  Rhine,  we  should  be  brought  to  the 
extraordinary  conclusion,  that  there  passes  down,  every 
day,  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  a  mass,  more  than  equal  in 
weight  and  bulk  to  the  great  pyramid." 

I  quote  these  examples  to  show  that  the  process  by 
which  the  earth  encroaches  on  the  sea,  and  becomes  re- 
duced in  the  elevation  of  its  surface,  is  in  many  instances 
astonishingly  rapid  ;  but  it  is  not  on  these  extreme  cases 
that  Cuvier  founds  his  calculation,  but  on  an  average  of 
ordinary  cases.  •  He  takes  his  observations  partly  from 
the  Deltas  of  the  Nile  and  the  Rhone,  and  partly  from 
the  depositions  along  the  shores  of  the  sea  of  Azoph,  and 
the  Black  Sea ;  and  he  also  considers  the  growth  of  peat 
mosses,  the  extent  of  mountain  slips,  and  the  progress  of 
downs  ;  and,  by  collecting  the  results  of  these  diversified 
operations,  he  finds  them,  as  I  have  already  intimated, 
all  concurring  in  one  conclusion,  which  serves,  by  a  new 
test,  to  verify  the  Scriptural  account  of  the  era  of  the 
deluge,  and  its  universal  operation. 

But  it  may  be  more  satisfactory  to  give  the  words  of 
Baron  Cuvier  himself.  "  Thus,  while  the  traditions  of 
all  nations  have  preserved  the  remembrance  of  a  great 
catastrophe,  the  deluge,  which  changed  the  earth's  sur- 
face, and  destroyed  nearly  the  whole  of  the  human  spe- 
cies, geology  apprizes  us,  that,  of  the  various  revolutions 
which  have  agitated  our  globe,  the  last  evidently  corre- 
sponds to  the  period  which  is  assigned  to  the  Deluge.  We 


RESPECTING  THE  DELUGE.  373 

say,  that  by  means  of  geological  considerations  alone,  it 
is  possible  to  determine  the  date  of  this  great  event  with 
some  degree  of  precision. 

"  There  are  certain  formations,  which  must  have  com- 
menced immediately  after  the  last  catastrophe,  and  which, 
from  that  period,  have  been  continued,  up  to  the  present 
day,  with  great  regularity.  Such  are  the  deposits  of 
detritus  observed  at  the  mouths  of  rivers, — the  masses 
of  rubbish  which  exist  at  the  foot  of  mountains,  and  are 
formed  of  the  fragments  that  fall  from  their  summits  and 
sides.  These  deposits  receive  a  yearly  increase,  which 
it  is  possible  to  measure.  Nothing,  therefore,  is  more 
easy  than  to  calculate  the  time  which  it  has  taken  them 
to  acquire  their  present  dimensions.  This  calculation 
has  been  made  with  reference  to  the  debris  of  mountains  ; 
and,  in  all  cases,  has  indicated  a  period  of  about  four 
thousand  years.  The  same  result  has  been  obtained 
from  the  other  alluvial  deposits.  In  short,  whatever  has 
been  the  natural  phenomenon  that  has  been  interrogated, 
it  has  always  been  found  to  give  evidence  in  accordance 
with  that  of  tradition.  The  traditions  themselves  ex- 
hibit the  most  astonishing  conformity.  The  Hebrew 
text  of  Genesis  places  the  Deluge  in  the  year  2349  be- 
fore Christ.  The  Indians  make  the  fourth  age  of  the 
world,  that  in  which  we  now  live,  to  commence  in  the 
year  3012.  The  Chinese  place  it  about  the  year  2384. 
Confucius,  in  fact,  represents  the  first  king  Yeo,  as  oc- 
cupied in  drawing  off  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  which  had 
risen  to  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  and  in  repairing  the 
damage  which  they  had  occasioned." 

This  result,  so  pleasing  to  the  religious  mind,  has  been 
attempted  to  be  evaded  by  some  ingenious  writers,  who, 
with  considerable  plausibility,  have  supported  views  al- 
together at  variance  with  Revelation,  endeavoring  to 
account  for  all  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  both 
in  the  animate  and  inanimate  creation,  by  a  regular  and 
uninterrupted  succession  of  natural  causes,  continued  for 
a  vast  but  undefined  period,  amounting  perhaps  to  mil- 
lions of  years ;  but,  with  whatever  ability  these  views 
have  been  supported,  the  straining  of  facts  to  which  such 
i.  32  vii. 


374   GEOLOGY. EFFECTS  OF  THE  DELUGE  ON 

writers  are  obliged  to  resort  for  the  purpose  of  support- 
ing a  very  untenable  theory,  is  too  apparent  not  to  display 
the  weakness  of  their  cause.  It  is  impossible,  by  any 
ingenuity,  to  mystify  the  fact  that  "mountains  decay 
with  years,"  and  that  there  is  a  general  tendency  in 
Nature  to  reduce  all  things  to  a  level ;  which,  in  a  period 
infinitely  short  of  eternity,  would  reduce  the  sea  to  a 
muddy  puddle,  and  the  land  to  a  swampy  and  pestilential 
marsh. 


THIRTEENTH  WEEK— SATURDAY. 

VII.  GEOLOGY. EFFECTS  OF  THE  DELUGE  ON  THE  PRESENT 

SURFACE  OF  THE  EARTH. 

THE  geological  marks  of  a  universal  deluge  are  very 
clearly  indicated,  not  merely  by  the  facts  we  have  been 
already  considering,  but  also  by  appearances  of  a  differ- 
ent kind.  Marine  shells  are  every  where  found,  even  on 
the  loftiest  mountains.  These  give  evidence,  either  that 
the  ocean  has  shifted  its  bed,  or  that  it  has  swept  over 
the  earth  as  Moses  has  described ;  or,  what  is  perhaps 
most  probable  from  other  indications,  that  both  of  these 
causes  have  been  combined. 

But  there  are  proofs  of  the  flood  still  more  unequivo- 
cal. There  are  deposits  every  where,  which  geologists 
have  justly  considered  diluvial,  and  which,  from  their 
position  on  elevated  ground  or  gentle  slopes,  are  easily 
distinguished  from  the  accumulations  of  lakes  and  rivers. 
"In  the  whole  course  of  my  geological  travels,"  says 
Dr.  Buckland,  "from  Cornwall  to  Caithness,  from 
Calais  to  the  Carpathians,  in  Ireland  or  in  Italy,  I  have 
scarcely  ever  gone  a  mile,  without  finding  a  perpetual 
succession  of  deposits  of  gravel,  sand,  or  loam,  in  situa- 
tions which  cannot  be  referred  to  the  action  of  modern 
torrents,  rivers,  or  lakes,  or  any  other  existing  causes. 


THE  PRESENT  SURFACE  OF  THE  EARTH.    375 

And  with  respect  to  the  still  more  striking  diluvial  phe- 
nomena of  drifted  masses  of  rocks,  the  greater  part  of 
the  northern  hemisphere,  from  Moscow  to  the  Mississippi, 
is  described  by  various  geological  travellers,  as  strewed, 
on  its  hills  as  well  as  valleys,  with  blocks  of  granite,  and 
other  rocks  of  enormous  magnitude,  which  have  been 
drifted  (mostly  in  a  direction  from  north  to  south)  a 
distance,  sometimes  of  many  hundred  miles,  from  their 
native  beds,  across  mountains  and  valleys,  lakes  and  seas, 
by  force  of  water,  which  must  have  possessed  a  velocity 
to  which  nothing  that  occurs  in  the  actual  state  of  the 
globe  affords  the  slightest  parallel." 

The  state  of  the  earth's  surface  here  described,  must 
be  familiar  to  every  one  who  has  any  taste  for  observa- 
tion. What  we  call  soil  is  nothing  else  $ian  rocks  rub- 
bed down  by  detrition,  or  decomposed  by  the  action  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  afterwards  mixed  with  the  decayed 
vegetable  and  animal  substances  to  which  it  has  given 
nourishment ;  and  it  is  striking  to  observe  with  what  be- 
neficence the  action  of  natural  causes  has  been  made  to 
clothe  the  earth  with  a  covering  so  admirably  adapted  for 
the  purposes  of  organic  life.  The  agency  of  the  Deluge 
in  the  whole  operation  is  very  apparent.  First  has  rushed 
over  the  earth  a  wave  of  amazing  force,  bearing  along 
with  it  in  its  resistless  current  every  thing  which  existed 
on  the  surface  of  the  globe  as  it  then  was, — destroying, 
submerging,  and  dispersing,  man  and  beast,  with  all  the 
labors  of  human  art ;  tearing  up  and  floating  away,  or 
burying  deep,  tree  and  shrub,  plant  and  flower  ;  throwing 
wide  over  all  climates  the  seeds  of  every  vegetable  pro- 
duction, to  form  the  germs  of  a  new  vegetation  in  an  al- 
tered world  ;  moving  from  their  primeval  foundations  the 
peaks  of  the  ancient  mountains,  and  hurrying  them,  bro- 
ken, scattered,  and  rounded  into  stones  and  bowlders,  to 
distant  regions,  and  over  a  wide  extent ;  scooping  out 
ravines,  and  raising  waving  hills  of  gravel  and  clay  in  the 
lower  grounds  ;  and,  as  it  swept  over  the  level  tracts,  de- 
positing part  of  the  more  heavy  materials  with  which  it 
was  loaded.  After  this  mighty  torrent,  occasioned  by  the 
sudden  disruption  of  the  solid  crust  of  the  globe,  had  be- 


376   GEOLOGY. EFFECTS  OF  THE  DELUGE  ON 

gun  to  subside,  the  turbid  waters,  in  their  slower  motion, 
had  proceeded  to  deposit  the  lighter  burden  with  which 
they  were  fraught.  The  mud  of  this  agitated  and  shore- 
less ocean,  mingled  with  rounded  stones  of  various  size, 
had  been  gradually  precipitated,  and  had  formed  a  sedi- 
ment of  various  depth,  which  was  to  serve  as  the  vegeta- 
ble soil  of  the  future  land  ;  and  this  awful  agent,  having 
now  fulfilled  the  high  behest  of  the  Almighty,  had  gradu- 
ally retired  to  those  regions  of  the  surface  which  were 
nearest  the  centre,  obeying  the  universal  law  of  gravita- 
tion, by  which  liquids  find  their  own  level. 

That  the  actual  state  of  the  earth's  surface  corresponds 
very  remarkably  with  this  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
a  universal  flood  would  naturally  act,  every  one  must, 
on  the  slightest  survey,  be  sensible.  But  a  more  minute 
and  careful  examination  strikingly  confirms  this  general 
view.  No  one  can  look  with  a  judicious  eye  on  any  ex- 
tensive section  of  the  upper  deposits  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face, without  being  sensible  of  this.  Sir  James  Hall 
turned  the  attention  of  geologists  to  the  curious  fact,  that 
on  the  surface  of  sandstone,  among  the  soil  and  debris 
which  cover  this  early  deposit,  large  bowlders,  sometimes 
of  the  same  kind  of  rock,  and  frequently  also  of  rock  of 
a  kind  altogether  foreign  to  the  locality,  are  very  often 
to  be  found  ;  and  that,  where  this  is  the  case,  the  upper 
stratum  of  the  rock  is  marked  with  grooves  or  scratches, 
generally  lying  in  a  southwest  direction,  and  evidently 
attributable  to  the  impression  of  these  bowlders,  hurried 
along  by  the  currents  during  the  action  of  the  flood.  The 
Craigleith  Quarry,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Edinburgh, 
which  is  remarkable  as  containing  a  very  fine  example  of 
a  fossil  tree  in  the  very  heart  of  the  secondary  deposit,  is 
a  wellknown  example  of  this.  The  intelligent  manager 
of  this  extensive  work,  has  traced  these  grooves  over  the 
whole  surface  of  the  quarry,  wherever  the  diluvial  soil  has 
been  removed  ;*  and  the  same  phenomenon  is  familiar  to 
every  person  who  is  conversant  with  similar  excavations. 
In  the  quarry  of  Corncocklemuir,  for  instance,  where  the 
footsteps  of  primeval  animals  have  been  discovered,  it  is 

*  Geology  of  Scripture,  p.  345. 


THE  PRESENT  SURFACE  OF  THE  EARTH.    377 

evident  that  the  whole  upper  surface  of  the  strata  has 
been  forcibly  torn  off  before  the  diluvial  soil  was  depos- 
ited ;  and  among  that  soil  are  found  large  portions  of  the 
sandstone  detached  from  the  living  rock. 

Dr.  Buckland  doubts  whether  these  proofs  of  a  flood 
of  immense  force  sweeping  over  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
should  be  referred  to  the  Mosaic  deluge,  or  to  that  which 
submerged  the  world  immediately  before  the  creation  of 
man.'  "  It  has  been  justly  argued,"  says  he,  "against 
the  attempt  to  identify  these  two  great  historical  and  nat- 
ural phenomena,  that,  as  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  waters 
of  the  Mosaic  deluge  are  described  to  have  been  gradual, 
and  of  short  duration,  they  would  have  produced  com- 
paratively little  change  on  the  surface  of  the  country 
they  overflowed.  The  large  preponderance  of  extinct 
species  among  the  animals  we  find  in  caves,  and  in  su- 
perficial deposits  of  diluvium,  and  the  non-discovery  of 
human  bones  along  with  them,  afford  strong  reason  for 
referring  these  species  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  creation 
of  man.  This  important  point,  however,  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  completely  settled  till  more  detailed  investiga- 
tion of  the  newest  members  of  the  Pliocene  and  of  the 
diluvial  and  alluvial  formations  shall  have  taken  place." 

It  is  well  to  speak  with  caution  when  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  facts  have  not  been  collected  ;  but,  for  my  own 
part,  I  see  little  force  in  the  objections  here  stated.  No 
deluge,  which  rose  in  a  few  weeks  over  the  tops  of  the 
highest  mountains,  and  enveloped  the  whole  habitable 
globe,  could  possibly  be  tranquil.  The  discovery  of 
extinct  species  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  extermina- 
tion of  such  animals  as  the  Creator  saw  would  no  longer 
be  suitable  to  the  new  condition  of  the  earth  when  it 
emerged  from  the  waters  ;  and  the  non-discovery  of  hu- 
man bones  in  the  places  yet  examined,  by  no  means  pre- 
cludes the  probability  of  finding  them  in  the  extensive 
regions  of  the  East,  yet  unexplored,  where  it  is  universally 
believed  the  human  race  had  their  origin.  Geologists  jump 
too  quickly  at  conclusions.  How  small  a  tract  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth  has  yet  been  examined,  and  even  that 
small  tract  how  imperfectly  ! 
32* 


378     GEOLOGY. EFFECTS  OF  THE  DELUGE. 

If  it  should  appear,  however,  that  the  organized  exist- 
ences of  what  Mr.  Lyell  calls  the  Pliocene  period  of  the 
tertiary  formation,  are  sometimes,  or  even  frequently, 
mingled  with  those  which  were  destroyed  and  submerged 
at  the  Deluge,  this  is  just  what  might  be  expected,  on 
the  supposition  that  the  Pliocene  period  ended  in  a  sim- 
ilar catastrophe.  At  the  period  of  the  Mosaic  creation, 
these  existences,  both  animal  and  vegetable,  would,  of 
course,  be  mingled  with  the  diluvium  which  formed  the 
surface  of  the  new  earth ;  and  when  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  were  again  broken  up  at  the  Deluge,  that  di- 
luvium would  be  disturbed,  overturned,  and  mixed,  so 
as  to  enclose  the  remains  of  antediluvian  organization  in 
the  same  masses  with  those  of  the  latest  period  of  the  im- 
mediately-preceding formation. 

In  considering  the  whole  subject  of  the  Deluge,  in- 
cluding not  only  its  physical  appearances,  unfolded  by 
geological  research,  but  its  moral  cause,  as  declared  by 
the  inspired  volume,  we  cannot  too  much  admire  the 
Divine  wisdom  and  goodness  which  has  caused  such  a 
tremendous  judgement  to  end  in  an  arrangement  so  bene- 
ficial. The  beautiful  scenery  of  the  earth,  with  its  val- 
leys and  hills,  covered  with  a  green  carpet  of  grass,  and 
adorned  with  flowers,  or  waving  with  lofty  forests,  or 
gracefully  interspersed  with  the  smooth  expanse  of  lakes, 
reflecting  surrounding  nature  on  their  peaceful  bosom, 
or  with  streams  rolling  their  ever-flowing  tide  to  the 
ocean  ;  while  the  distant  horizon  melts  away  into  blue 
mountains,  whose  tops  reach  the  clouds, — all  this  is  the 
result  of  that  dreadful  convulsion  which  offended  justice 
inflicted  as  a  deserved  punishment  on  accumulated  and 
increasing  guilt  ;  but  which  a  paternal  hand  controlled, 
and  an  all-wise  Providence  converted,  to  purposes  of 
mercy  and  love. 

There  is  something  unspeakably  gracious  in  the  prom- 
ise made  to  Noah,  when  he  and  his  family  issued  from 
the  ark,  and  set  their  foot  for  the  first  time  on  a  sub- 
merged, but  renovated  world.  "  I  do  set  my  bow  in 
the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covenant  between 
Me  and  the  earth.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  I 


THE   DELUGE  A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT.  379 

bring  a  cloud  over  the  earth,  that  the  bow  shall  be  seen 
in  the  cloud  :  and  I  will  remember  my  covenant  which 
is  between  Me  and  you,  and  every  living  creature  of  all 
flesh  ;  and  the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to 
destroy  all  flesh."  "  While  the  earth  remaineth,  seed- 
time and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and 
winter,  and  day  and  night,  shall  not  cease." 

With  what  a  fine  vein  of  poetic  feeling  has  a  celebrated 
poet  alluded  to  this  sublime  and  paternal  declaration,  in 
his  address  to  the  Rainbow  : — 

"  When,  o'er  the  green  undeluged  earth, 

Heaven's  covenant  thou  didst  shine, 
How  came  the  world's  gray  fathers  forth 
To  watch  thy  sacred  sign  ! 

"  And,  while  its  yellow  lustre  smiled 

O'er  mountains  yet  untrod, 
Each  mother  held  aloft  her  child, 
To  bless  the  bow  of  God. 

****** 

"  How  glorious  is  thy  girdle  cast 

O'er  mountain,  tower,  and  town, 
Or  mirror'd  in  the  ocean  vast, 
A  thousand  fathoms  down. 

"  As  fresh,  in  yon  horizon  dark, 

As  young  thy  beauties  seem, 
As  when  the  eagle  from  the  ark 

First  sported  in  thy  beam. 
"  For,  faithful  to  its  sacred  page, 

Heaven  still  rebuilds  thy  span, 
Nor  lets  the  type  grow  pale  with  age, 
That  first  spoke  peace  to  man  !" 

CAMPBELL. 


FOURTEENTH   WEEK— SUNDAY. 

THE  DELUGE  A  DIVINE   JUDGEMENT. 

THE  account  which  the  Bible  gives  us  of  the  history 
of  the  antediluvian  world,  and  of  the  causes  which  led 
to  that  awful  interference  of  the  great  Creator,  which 


380  THE  DELUGE  A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT. 

brought  it  to  a  sudden  and  violent  end,  may  be  stated  in 
few  words.  There  were  two  distinct  races  of  the  human 
family, — the  one,  acute,  ingenious,  and  worldly,  gave 
themselves  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  those  pursuits 
and  pleasures,  which  begin  and  end  on  this  side  of  the 
grave  ;  the  other  were  animated  by  that  Hope,  of  which 
it  has  been  beautifully  said,  that  she  u  lights  her  torch  at 
Nature's  funeral  pile  ;"  and  made  it  the  noblest  aim  of 
their  lives,  to  walk  worthy  of  their  immortal  destiny,  and 
to  prepare  for  the  exalted  employments  and  enlarged  hap- 
piness of  celestial  natures. 

In  the  slight  glimpse  afforded  us  of  these  two  races,  we 
find  a  striking  example  of  a  peculiarity  in  the  human  char- 
acter, which  our  Saviour  has  noticed,  and  which  has 
characterized  man  in  every  age, — that  the  children  of 
this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children 
of  light.  Among  those  who  are  designated  by  Moses 
as  the  "children  of  men,"  we  see  much  worldly  wisdom. 
We  find  their  peculiar  character  indicated  in  these 
short  incidental  notices, — they  built  cities  ;  they  posses- 
sed flocks  and  herds  ;  they  invented  musical  instruments; 
they  dug  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and  became 
artificers  in  brass  and  iron  : — in  short,  they  founded 
the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  made  large  advances  in  its 
comforts  and  luxuries.  Among  the  pious  race  of  Seth, 
who  were  distinguished  from  the  irreligious  family  by  the 
honorable  title  of  "  Sons  of  God,"  we  hear  little  of 
worldly  accomplishments,  though  they  doubtless  studied 
the  works  of  creation,  that  in  them  they  might  discern 
and  adore  the  Creator's  perfections,  and  were  not  neglect- 
ful of  whatever  might  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  social 
and  domestic  life,  or  enlarge  the  understanding,  or  im- 
prove the  heart ;  but,  what  is  of  much  greater  importance, 
and  indicates  a  far  nobler  character,  in  the  descendants 
of  that  family,  we  find  Enoch,  who  walked  with  God,  and 
was  not,  for  God  took  him,  and  Noah,  who  was  just  and 
perfect  in  his  generations. 

But  the  contagion  of  iniquity  is  fearful.  In  all  ages, 
there  is  a  predisposition  towards  it  in  the  heart  of  every 
man,  and  probably  its  influence  was  greatly  aggravated  in 


THE   DELUGE  A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT.  381 

the  primeval  epoch,  by  a  life  extending  to  many  centuries, 
and  by  the  peculiar  vigor  of  the  bodily  powers.  What- 
ever force  there  may  be  in  this  latter  observation,  it  is 
certain,  that  as  soon  as  the  pious  race,  merging  their  horror 
of  irreligion  in  their  admiration  of  human  talent,  began  to 
cultivate  a  familiar  intercourse  with  the  infidel  race,  their 
characters  from  that  instant  began  to  decline;  and,  frequent 
intermarriages  having  taken  place  among  them  which  hast- 
ened the  disease,  corruption  became  universal  and  invet- 
erate, and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence.  At  length 
the  measure  of  their  iniquity  became  full.  The  world, 
as  it  then  was,  had  fulfilled  its  purpose,  and  the  family  of 
Adam  had  proved  themselves  incapable,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  they  were  then  placed,  of  honorably 
fulfilling  the  relations  of  life,  or  of  preparing  for  the  en- 
joyments of  a  better  world.  A  new  constitution  of  things 
was  to  succeed,  in  which  human  life  was  to  be  curtailed, 
the  world  was  to  be  rendered  less  exuberant  in  its  vege- 
table productions,  some  of  the  largest  animals,  probably, 
were  to  be  exterminated,  and  other  corresponding  changes 
were  to  be  made  in  further  developement  of  the  Divine 
decrees.  A  new  step,  in  short,  was  to  be  taken  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  the  primeval  promise,  that  "  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent." 
The  antediluvian  world  was  therefore  to  be  destroyed, 
and  means  having  been  taken  for  the  preservation  of  all 
living  species  intended  to  people  the  new  earth,  from  man 
to  the  minutest  insect,  u  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  open- 
ed ;" — by  some  amazing  convulsion,  in  which  the  agency 
of  natural  causes  was  probably  employed,  an  irresistible 
and  overwhelming  flood  poured  over  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  and,  amidst  the  jarring  of  commingled  ele- 
ments, the  work  of  destruction  was  accomplished.  This 
awful  event  is  thus  graphically  described  by  Mr.  Sharon 
Turner,  in  the  concluding  sentence  of  his  able  work  on 
the  History  of  the  Creation,  &c. — "  We  can  but  faintly 
conceive  the  appalling  scene.  Mankind  were  surprised, 
in  the  midst  of  their  usual  festivities  and  employments, 
by  the  sudden  alarm  of  portentous  danger,  rapidly  rush- 


382  THE   DELUGE  A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT. 

ing  on  them  from  the  blackening  and  howling  sky.  The 
sun  was  seen  no  more, — midnight  darkness  usurped  the 
day, — lightnings  dreadfully  illuminated, — thunder  rolled 
with  unceasing  fury, — all  that  was  natural, ceased  ;  and, 
in  its  stead,  whirlwind  and  desolation, — earth  rending, — 
cities  falling, — the  roar  of  tumultuous  waters, — shrieks 
and  groans  of  human  despair, — overwhelming  ruin, — 
universal  silence, — and  the  awful  quiet  of  executed  and 
subsiding  retribution !" 

In  the  history  of  these  first  ages,  a  most  instructive  les- 
son is  taught  us  with  regard  to  the  nature  and  consequen- 
ces of  mere  human  talent,  destitute  of  Divine  illumina- 
tion. Wedded  to  earth,  the  infidel  branch  of  the  human 
family  sought  an  earthly  reward,  and  obtained  it.  They 
"  found  out  many  inventions  ;"  they  increased  in  wealth, 
and  surrounded  themselves  with  conveniences  and  luxu- 
ries. In  the  eager  course  of  selfishness,  the  boundaries 
of  knowledge  were  extended, — desire  was  enlarged,  the 
faculties  sharpened,  and  the  taste  refined.  But  in  this 
worldly  progress  what  became  of  morality,  and  where 
was  the  place  of  religion  ?  alas  !  they  had  fled.  The 
pursuits  of  the  world  are  essentially  grovelling  ; — they 
debase,  harden,  and  contract  the  heart.  Sensuality  bru- 
tifies  it ;  passion  inflames  it ;  evil  communications  cor- 
rupt it.  Avarice  is  grasping,  pride  is  arrogant, — ambi- 
tion, bloody.  Even  science,  itself,  when  pursued  in  a 
worldly  spirit,  is  full  of  snares  ;  in  its  self-sufficiency  it 
usurps  the  sceptre  of  heaven,  and  banishes  God  from  the 
throne  of  the  universe. 

The  awful  catastrophe  of  the  Deluge  presents  the  Al- 
mighty before  our  minds  in  the  tremendous  light  of  an 
avenging  and  unrelenting  Judge  ;  and,  in  contemplating  it, 
we  seem  to  lose  sight  of  the  gracious  attributes  by  which 
the  Universal  Parent  is  endeared  to  the  hearts  of  His  chil- 
dren. But,  when  we  divest  the  event  of  those  adventi- 
tious qualities  which  the  excited  imagination  throws  around 
it,  and  view  it  in  the  pure  light  of  truth,  we  perceive 
that,  after  all,  except  as  regards  time  and  manner,  there 
was  nothing  more  dreadful  than  what  happens  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  Providence.  All  who  live  are  destined  by 


THE  DELUGE   A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT.  383 

the  condition  of  their  nature  to  die, — some  in  infancy, — 
some  in  the  opening  blossom  of  youth, — some  in  the  full 
vigor  of  matured  faculties, — and  some  in  hoary  age. 
And  what  greater  calamity  than  this  invaded  the  animal 
creation  when  the  flood  swept  them  away  ?  They  died, 
indeed,  together,  and  the  mode  of  their  dissolution  was 
violent  and  unusual.  But  was  there  not,  even  in  these 
very  circumstances,  much  to  alleviate  the  calamity  ? 
What  varieties  of  protracted  suffering  were  avoided  ! 
How  many  pangs  of  heart-rending  sympathy  were  spar- 
ed !  There  were  no  torturing  diseases, — no  restless 
nights, — no  tedious  watchings, — no  orphan  children, — 
no  sorrowing  parents, — no  widowed  wives, — no  bereaved 
husbands.  To  perish  by  flood  !  It  is  one  of  the  easiest 
of  deaths.  To  die  together  !  It  is  a  consummation  which 
affection  desires. 

But  beyond  death  !  This  is  the  awful  thought. — Mys- 
terious and  appalling  dispensation  !  Scene  of  horror  and 
despair  !  Yet,  in  this  respect,  the  Deluge  was  not  differ- 
ent in  its  consequences  from  a  common  deathbed.  The 
crisis  was  sudden,  indeed ;  but  if  the  world  was  taken  by 
surprise,  it  was  not  for  want  of  ample  warning.  During 
the  eventful  period  in  which  the  ark  was  building, — a  pe- 
riod of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years, — Noah  was  "a 
preacher  of  righteousness,"  and  the  "  long  suffering  of 
God  waited."  This  intimates  to  us  the  opportunity 
which,  even  to  the  very  last,  was  afforded  for  penitence, 
and  shows  to  what  extent  the  conscience  was  seared,  and 
how  irretrievable  was  the  moral  and  religious  character 
of  the  world.  And  what  a  warning  does  it  afford  to  us  ! 
The  world  will  never  indeed  be  again  overwhelmed  by  a 
flood  ; — but  every  individual  of  the  human  family,  gen- 
eration after  generation,  will  go  down  to  the  dust  from 
which  he  was  taken,  and  his  soul  will  be  required  of  him 
for  final  judgement.  We  know  not  when  this  event  will 
occur  to  any  individual  ;  but  we  are  daily  warned  that  the 
time  is  at  hand  ;  and  ought  we  not  to  have  "  our  loins 
girded  about  and  our  lamps  burning?" 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  period  is  approaching 
when  the  world  shall  be  destroyed,  not  indeed  by  water, 


384  THE   DELUGE   A  DIVINE  JUDGEMENT. 

but  by  fire  ;  and  that  the  latter  catastrophe  will  come  as 
suddenly  and  as  little  expected  as  the  former. 

"  As  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noe,  so  shall  it  be  also  in  the 
days  of  the  Son  of  Man.  They  did  eat,  they  drank,  they 
married  wives,  they  were  given  in  marriage, 'until  the 
day  that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark  ;  and  the  flood  came 
and  destroyed  them  all."  How  happy  will  those  be  who 
shall  have  taken  shelter  from  such  calamities  under  the 
everlasting  wings,  and  to  whom,  in  whatever  form  the 
king  of  terrors  advances,  he  shall  prove  a  messenger  of 
immortal  glory. 


END  OF     c  WINTER.' 


A  GLOSSARY 

OF    THE    LATIN,    FRENCH,    AND     OTHER    NOT-EASILY-UNDER- 
STOOD WORDS  AND  PHRASES. 

Acme,  the  height,  or  extreme  point. 

Actinia,  the  scientific  name  for  the  various  species  of  sea-flowers. 

Aerated,  mixed  with  air. 

Alluvial,  relating  to  alluvium. 

Alluvium,  earth  deposited  by  recent  overflows  of  water.  Diluvium, 
earth  deposited  by  ancient  overflows  of  water. 

Alpine,  mountainous  ;  a  term  derived  from  the  mountains  called  the 
Alps,  and  often  applied  to  other  elevated  regions. 

Annelida,  a  class  of  worms. 

A  priori,  in  the  first  instance. 

Aorta,  the  main  artery  of  the  body,  leading  from  the  heart. 

Articulata,  the  class  of  articulated  or  jointed  animals. 

Arum,  a  class  of  plants  having  dart-shaped  leaves,  (the  name  in  He- 
brew signifying  dart,)  as  the  wild  turnip. 

Asterias,  the  scientific  name  of  the  various  species  of  star-fish. 

Axil,  or  axilla,  (pi.  axils  or  axillce,)  the  angle  between  a  leaf  acd 
the  stem,  on  the  upper  side. 

Blanche,  to  make  white. 

Bonspeil,  good  sport. 

Breadwinner,  applied,  in  Scotland,  to  the  head  of  a  family,  or  the  one 
who  provides  food  for  them. 

Cambium,  a  mucilaginous  fluid  formed  from  the  proper  juices  of 
plants,  (these  being  themselves  formed  from  the  sap,)  and  employed 
directly  in  vegetable  nutrition  and  growth.  It  may  be  considered 
as  analogous  to  the  chyle  in  animals. 

Camera  Obscura,  literally,  a  darkened  chamber  ;  the  name  of  an 
optical  instrument,  by  which  the  images  of  external  objects,  receiv- 
ed through  a  double  convex  glass,  are  shown  distinctly,  and  in  their 
proper  colors,  on  the  wall  of,  or  on  a  table  in,  a  darkened  room. 

Capsule,  that  kind  of  hollow  seed-vessel,  which  becomes  dry  and 
opens  when  ripe. 

Caribou,  an  animal  of  the  deer  kind. 

Carnivora,  flesh-eaters. 

Caseous,  curd-like,  cheese-like,  having  the  qualities  of  cheese. 

Caste,  (pi.  castes,)  a  division  made  in  Hindostan,  and  other  parts  of 
India,  between  different  tribes.  No  Hindoo  will  intermarry  or  eat 
with  any  person  not  of  his  own  caste. 

Castor  and  Pollux,  twin  brothers,  who  were  companions  of  Jason,  in 
the  Argonautic  expedition  in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  In  this 

i.  33  vn. 


386  GLOSSARY. 

expedition,  during  a  violent  storm,  two  lights,  like  flames  of  fire, 
were  seen  to  play  round  their  heads,  and  the  tempest  immediately 
ceasing,  it  was  superstitiously  supposed  that  they  had  power  to  quell 
storms  ;  from  which  circumstance,  these  ignes  fatui,  or  wild-fires, 
which  are  very  common  in  storms  at  sea,  have  received  the  name 
of  Castor  and  Pollux.  From  the  love  of  these  two  brothers  for 
each  other,  they  were  said  to  have  been  transported  to  the  heavens, 
and  changed  into  the  constellation  thence  named  Gemini,  or  the 
twins. 

Cereal,  relating  to  corn.     Cereal  plants  are  the  several  kinds  of  grain. 

Chelonia,  the  scientific  name  of  the  animals  of  the  tortoise  kind. 

Chives,  the  stamens  of  a  plant  ;  also  a  sort  of  small  onion. 

Chrysalis,  (pi.  chrysalids  and  chrysalides,)  the  state  into  which  an 
insect  passes  from  the  caterpillar  or  reptile  form,  previously  to  its 
becoming  a  butterfly,  or  moth,  &c. 

Chyle,  a  white  juice,  formed  from  the  chyme,  and  consisting  of  the 
finer  and  more  nutritious  parts  of  the  food.  It  is  afterwards  convert- 
ed into  blood. 

Chyme,  the  result  of  the  first  process  which  food  undergoes  in  the 
stomach,  previously  to  its  being  converted  into  chyle. 

Class,  Order,  Genus,  Species,  Family,  &c.  In  Natural  History,  an- 
imals, plants,  minerals,  &c.,  are  arranged  in  different  divisions,  for 
convenience  in  systematizing  them.  The  objects  are  first  arranged 
in  Classes,  each  Class  is  divided  into  Orders,  each  Order  into  Gen- 
era, each  Genus  into  Species,  and  each  Species  sometimes  into 
Subspecies.  The  term  Family  is  sometimes  used  instead  of  Genus, 
and  objects  are  often  arranged  in  Families. 

Cocoon,  the  oval  ball  or  case  of  silk  spun  by  the  silkworm,  for  a  cover- 
ing while  it  lies  in  the  chrysalis  state. 

Cointisies,  robes. 

Coit,  a  quoit,  a  thing  thrown  at  a  mark. 

Congeners,  animals  belonging  to  the  same  natural  order. 

Conferva,  a  tribe  of  delicate  tubular  plants,  inhabiting  fresh  water. 

Crustacea,  the  class  of  animals  covered  with  a  crustlike  shell,  as  the 
crab  or  lobster. 

Crustaceans,  the  animals  of  the  foregoing  class. 

Curling,  a  pastime  on  the  ice,  peculiar  to  some  parts  of  Scotland  and 
Holland.  In  the  former  country,  it  is  also  called  golf.  The  sport 
consists  in  striking  a  ball  or  stone  from  one  party  to  another,  ar- 
ranged on  opposite  sides  of  a  line  drawn  midway  between  them  ; 
each  party  endeavoring  to  prevent  the  ball  or  stone,  when  struck  by 
the  other  side,  from  crossing  the  line. 

Dead-light,  an  imaginary  light  superstitiously  supposed  to  be  some- 
times seen,  as  a  token  of  the  death  of  some  person  ;  an  evil  omen. 

Denouement,  unwinding,  explanation,  discovery. 

Diluvium,  see  Alluvium. 

Drift-way,  a  passage  cut  in  the  earth,  to  connect  two  shafts  of  a  mine, 
or  under  the  bed  of  a  river  from  side  to  side. 

Drupe,  a  pulpy  fruit  containing  a  stone  or  nut,  like  the  peach. 

Eglantine,  the  sweetbrier  rose. 

JElf,  a  wandering  spirit,  a  fairy,  an  evil  spirit. 


GLOSSARY.  387 

Elf-Candle,  a  light  supposed  to  be  held  by  an  elf  or  fairy,  and  be- 
tokening misfortune  to  the  person  who  saw  it  ;  a  bad  omen. 

Embouchure,  the  mouth  of  a  river. 

Eocene,  dawning,  the  earliest  division  of  the  tertiary  formation  of 
geologists. 

Ephemeron,  (pi.  Ephemera,}  an  insect  of  a  day. 

Et,  and. 

Exuvia,  (pi.  exuviae,)  cast-off  skin,  or  other  covering. 

Family,  see  Class. 

Fecula,  starch. 

Ferae,  the  third  order  of  mammalia,  according  to  Linnaeus,  including 
animals  of  the  cat  kind. 

Filiform,  thread-like,  slender. 

Frond,  the  leaf  of  plants,  of  the  class  which  includes  the  Fern  spe- 
cies. 

Genus,  (pi.  Genera,}  see  Class. 

Glires,  gnawing  animals,  the  fourth  order  of  mammalia,  according  to 
Linmeus. 

Gramina,  grasses. 

Gypsum,  sulphate  of  lime,  or  plaster  of  Paris. 

Helix,  (pi.  Helices,)  the  Snail  family. 

Herbivora,  grass-eaters. 

Hucho,  a  species  of  salmon. 

Huso,  a  species  of  sturgeon. 

Ichthyophagites,  fish-eaters. 

Ignesfatui,  plural  of  ignis  fatuus,  or  wild-fire. 

Imago,  the  perfect  state  of  insects. 

Inertia,  inertness. 

Insomnium,  restless  sleep. 

Involucre,  a  covering  ;  a  kind  of  general  calyx,  (or  flower-cup,) 
serving  for  many  flowers,  and  usually  situated  at  the  base  of  an 
umbel,  or  place  where  the  flower-stalks  diverge  from  one  centre 
like  the  sticks  of  an  umbrella. 

Involute,  rolled  inwards. 

Isochronous,  performed  in  equal  times,  or  in  the  same  space  of  time. 

Larva,  (pi.  larvae,)  the  worm-state,  or  first  form  of  insects  after  they 
leave  the  egg. 

Leaflet,  a  partial  leaf,  a  constituent  of  a  compound  leaf. 

Leguminous,  pod-bearing.  Leguminous  plants  are  those  whose  seeds 
are  enclosed  in  pods,  as  peas,  beans,  tamarinds,  &c. 

Lepidoptera,  the  butterfly  tribes. 

Lichen,  a  species  of  moss. 

Lignin,  one  of  the  constituents  of  wood,  woody  fibre. 

Luminiferous,  bearing,  or  giving,  light. 

Manse,  the  Scotch  name  for  a  parsonage-house. 

Mausoleum,  (pi.  mausolea,)  a  tomb,  so  called  from  a  stately  sepulchre 
erected  by  Artemisia,  Queen  of  Caria,  for  her  husband  Mausolus  ; 
now  applied  to  any  elegant  sepulchral  monument. 

Maximum,  highest  point. 

Medine,  a  small  Turkish  coin. 

Minimum,  lowest  point. 


GLOSSARY. 

Miocene,  less  recent,  the  division  of  the  tertiary  formation,  between 
the  Eocene  and  Pliocene  divisions. 

Nebula,  (pi.  nebulae,)  a  rnist,  or  little  cloud  ;  applied  by  astronomers 
to  luminous  spots  in  the  heavens,  of  a  misty  appearance,  like  that 
which  the  milky  way  presents  to  the  naked  eye. 

Order,  see  Class. 

Operculum,  a  lid,  or  little  door. 

Papilla,  (pi.  papillce,)  the  orifice  whence  the  spider  secretes  the  sub- 
stance of  which  its  web  is  composed. 

Passim,  here  and  there,  in  various  places. 

Phenomenon,  (pi.  phenomena,)  a  natural  appearance,  generally  of  an 
extraordinary  kind. 

Pirn,  in  weaving,  the  quill  of  the  shuttle. 

Planaria,  a  tribe  of  flat-shaped  aquatic  worms. 

Plies,  folds  or  plaits. 

Pliocene,  the  third  or  latest  division  of  the  tertiary  formation  of 
geologists. 

Primates,  the  first  order  of  mammalia,  according  to  Linnaeus,  includ- 
ing man. 

Protege,  (pi.  proteges,)  one  who  is  protected  by  another. 

Pupa,  (pi.  pupee,)  the  same  as  Chrysalis,  which  see. 

Redargued,  refuted. 

Residual,  remaining  after  a  part  is  taken. 

Sanctum  Sanctorum,  the  Holy  of  Holies,  or  most  holy  place,  often 
applied  to  the  most  important  or  holiest  place  in  temples,  churches, 
fee. 

Shrievedom,  the  territory  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  sheriff. 

Sisyphus,  a  person  who  is  fabled  to  have  been  condemned  to  roll  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  a  large  stone,  which,  just  as  it  had  reached  the 
summit,  rolled  back  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  thus  rendering  his  punish- 
ment perpetual. 

Somnambulism,  sleep-walking. 

Spadix,  (pi.  spadices,)  an  elongated  receptacle  of  flowers. 

Species,  see  Class. 

Spell,  a  turn  of  work,  applied  also  to  games  in  which  different  persons 
take  their  turns  or  spells. 

Stamen,  in  weaving,  the  warp,  the  thread,  any  thing  made  of  threads. 
In  botany,  that  part  of  a  flower,  on  which  the  artificial  classification 
is  founded,  consisting  of  the  filament  or  stalk,  and  the  anther,  which 
contains  the  pollen,  or  fructifying  powder. 

Stimulus,  (pi.  stimuli,)  a  strong  motive  or  excitement. 

Tentacula,   feelers. 

Testacea,  shell-fish. 

Tree-hopper,  a  tree-toad. 

Tryst,  appointment,  rendezvous. 

Ultra-zodiacal,  without  or  beyond  the  zodiac. 

Usufructuaries,  those  who  have  the  use  or  enjoyment  of  property  for 
a  time,  without  having  the  title  or  property. 

Vertebrata,  the  class  of  vertebrated  animals. 

Viaticum,  provision  made  for  a  journey. 

Vice  versa,  things  being  reversed,  or  the  terms  being  changed. 


GLOSSARY. 


389 


Vis  inertia,  the  power  of  rest,  or  inertness. 

TVarp,  in  weaving,  the  threads  running  lengthwise. 

Wear,  weir,  or  wier,  a  dam  to  raise  the  water  in  a  river. 

Weft,  or  woof,  in  weaving,  the  threads  crossing  the  warp. 

Zoophyte,  a  minute  marine  animal,  which  forms  the  corals  and  mad- 
repores. These  corals  are  the  dwellings  of  the  animals,  which 
received  the  name  Zoophytes,  (from  two  Greek  words,  signifying 
animal  and  plant,)  from  the  erroneous  notion  which  formerly  pre- 
vailed, that  they  partook  of  the  nature  of  animals  and  plants. 


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